


I (don't) hate you

by civillove



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-09 12:54:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 46,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11669526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/civillove/pseuds/civillove
Summary: Blaine doesn’t hate his roommate Sebastian, not really. His best friend Erica, however, can’t stand him. So when Sebastian’s ‘friend’ Hunter offers her a chance of permanently ruining their friendship and developing relationship…how can she refuse?





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> Multi-chapter. AU as in glee universe is irrelevant, just using the characters! I don’t claim anything other than the idea for this fic. Thanks to Abby for the constant confidence boosts, you’re a babe.

 

“Okay, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the most, how much do you hate your roommate?”

Blaine Anderson sighs, his eyes flickering to the ceiling for a brief moment before gazing over a carton of milk in his hand to his best friend Erica Dixon. _Here we go;_ they have this conversation _at least_ once a week. He brings this upon himself, he knows this. He needs to stop calling her when he’s drunk and complaining about his roommate’s latest shenanigans.

“I don’t.”

Erica is one of the best people he’s come across in New York thus far. Sometimes a little too nosy for her own good, she’s got a good heart—which is more than he can say for a lot of people. Though he can say that her inability to mind her own business does work well for the whole ‘Lois Lane’ look that she has going on. Long brown hair, high cheekbones, sometimes glasses, sometimes not over hazel eyes; beautiful in a way where she’s not trying and incredibly hard-headed.

They’ve been friends for a long time, years, but it’s one of those things in which it feels so much longer than that. His mom always used to tell him that it was fate or destiny to have certain people in his life…he feels like that about Erica. He was meant to meet her, in one of the toughest times he’d been going through. He never thought he’d be able to make it through the first major breakup with his first and only boyfriend.

She pulled him out, right through the mud and broken glass, making sure he made it through the other side alright. He’s been there for her too, when she lost her mother in a freak car accident and didn’t think she’d be able to get out of bed ever again.

But Blaine stayed with her until she felt like the grief wouldn’t swallow her whole.

He teases her that she’d be his soulmate if he swung her way but he’s not exactly lying about that.

“Is hate too strong a word? Okay, dislike with a great need for wanting him to move out…”

“I don’t—”

“tomorrow.”

Blaine sets the milk down and picks up another carton, looking for an expiration date. Once he’ satisfied he’s got one that’s going to last him more than a week it goes into his basket.

“I don’t hate him.” In passing, down the aisle, away from that conversation.

He doesn’t _hate_ his roommate, not really. Hate is such a strong and ugly word…he’s never hated anyone in his life, not anyone he knows personally, anyways. In reality, they’re just two different people that don’t always mesh in the world of living together. Blaine knows some sets of roommates that act like they’re practically family, others are best friends.

Sebastian Smythe is not his family, nor is he someone he’d actually call a best friend.

Fuckboy would probably be the best adjective, but he’s trying to be nice here. So he’ll go with…extremely passive aggressively difficult.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Kindergartener also works.

Okay, in all honesty, he’s actually really lucky that Sebastian wanted to go in on this lease with him. He had been sharing it with his boyfriend but when they broke up, his ex packed up his shit and bailed—didn’t even bother putting his half of the money down. Erica couldn’t move in with him because she was tied up in a lease herself and he _really_ didn’t want to ask his parents for money. He loves working at the veterinary clinic as a receptionist but the job doesn’t pay as well as he needs it to.

He took out an add and three days later Sebastian Smythe showed up on his doorstep, too incredibly pretty to be good news. And for the most part, he’s not.

But Blaine was desperate and Sebastian was willing to pay the half his ex didn’t, put a down payment on the next month _and_ with good recommendations from other apartment landlords…he couldn’t say no.

So he said yes and Sebastian moved in—that was a year ago.

It’s not that Blaine doesn’t _like_ him, he’s fine; it can always be a lot worse. There’s a guy down the hall from them in apartment 2C named Noah Turk who’s obsessed with Blaine; it kinda goes way past having a crush…he _could_ be living with him. Jesus. Erica always jokes that he has a shrine dedicated to him and what’s sad is Blaine isn’t sure he can completely tell her she’s wrong. Noah has always been nice though, has always gone out of his way to do him favors so he doesn’t let the extra attention bother him.

He’s probably just lonely and Blaine really knows how that feels, how it can eat away at someone until there’s nothing left. He’s never led Noah on…so what’s so wrong about being his friendly neighbor?

Blaine pauses at the fruit and grabs a plastic bag, trying to do a mental count about what they have in the kitchen.

Erica slides up right next to him, leans against the watermelon display. “What about the time he broke the washing machine?”

He grabs a few peaches and ties the bag closed, “That thing was on its last leg anyways.”

They just don’t along the way other roommates probably do. He can’t compare this to how he lived with his ex. Him and Sebastian put up with one another because they have to, because they’re on the lease together, because they entered into a contract agreement to be civil. It’s not that they don’t have their moments either—sometimes they cook dinner together or watch terrible horror movies just to laugh. Blaine makes coffee for him in the morning and Sebastian makes sure to save him a few cups when he gets home from the vet late.

They move like magnets, just…accepting one another’s presence.

“Okay,” Erica goes on, hands Blaine another plastic bag for more fruit, “He doesn’t keep up with household chores. You hate that, I _know_ you hate that.”

She’s not wrong, he _does_ hate that. He’s always been a tidy person and…he and Sebastian have different definitions of the word ‘clean’. While Blaine will dust and vacuum and wash what he has to, Sebastian tends to push dust and dirt and grime into places unseen to pretend it was never dirty in the first place.

He leaves coffee mugs everywhere. He doesn’t rinse dishes before putting them into the dishwasher. His room is a graveyard for cereal bowls.

Blaine opens and closes his mouth a moment before sighing, filling a bag with strawberries. “He has this weird thing about getting his hands wet?” He ties the bag before he can literally feel her weird-ass glare in the back of his shoulder. He meets her eyes, “I’m serious. Something to do with the chemicals in dish detergent or something.”

“If it’s safe enough to use on baby ducks stuck in oil spills, I’m sure it’s perfectly okay for his dainty-ass hands.”

He rolls his eyes and puts the fruit into his basket, moving past her to where the vegetables are. He can’t remember if they used all the broccoli…

Sometimes when they switch on and off for dinner, Sebastian takes leftovers to the law firm where he interns. That way he doesn’t have to leave for lunch, which is fine as far as Blaine is concerned. His shifts aren’t always longer than six hours and he has two breaks given to him for coffee or food. Sebastian needs it more than he does and it frees up their refrigerator from a bad horror movie called ‘Attack of the Leftovers’.

“He locked you out of the apartment the one night.”

“That,” Blaine counters, “Wasn’t completely his fault. He had company and I forgot my keys.”

“You slept in the hall.”

He scoffs because, okay, yeah. “Right, I should have just knocked on stalker Noah’s door down the hall; that would have been cozy.”

He should get broccoli and cauliflower, maybe make some sort of stir-fry this week? Blaine chews on his lower lip and picks up a head of cauliflower to inspect. Erica is no longer leaning against the watermelon display but instead moving towards where he is and examining some shady looking carrots.

“I’m surprised his ‘Blaine in distress’ radar wasn’t beeping all night.” She muses, poking one of the carrots and making it tumble into the celery.

He’s a little surprised himself if he’s being honest. He should have just banged on the door until Sebastian opened up but he’s been known to ignore him if he’s in the middle of…something. Whatever, the point is, that was one bad night out of many decent ones. He and his ex had plenty of terrible nights towards the end.

“He walks around the apartment naked!” Erica exclaims, like she suddenly remembers that’s an occurrence.

Blaine blinks and glances up at some other shoppers who are now looking at his best friend oddly. He slowly turns to look at her before a stifled laugh leaves his lips, “I actually kind of like it when he does that.”

Erica gently grabs onto his wrist before Blaine can leave the conversation, hopefully for the last time. She rubs her thumb into the skin there, zeroing in his attention for what she’s about to say, “I just worry, you know?” He’s about to tell her she doesn’t have to, but, “The guy clearly doesn’t respect you. You say he doesn’t bother you but is that really how you feel? Or do you just not want the confrontation?”

She kisses his knuckles before letting go of his hand, leaving him alone with his thoughts and a half full basket of groceries. Blaine really hates it when she seems to crawl inside his mind like that—is he really so transparent? He’s not upset with her, but he hates the fact that she’s probably right.

\---

What’s wrong with being complacent? Doesn’t it just mean he’s comfortable with how things are? Blaine lets himself into his apartment complex, carrying his groceries in two bags with one hand. He should check his mailbox before going upstairs.

He _is_ comfortable—he tries to think of what this might look like if he hadn’t found anyone to pay his other half of the rent or living with someone worse than Sebastian. Erica is right in the sense that he doesn’t like confrontation, he doesn’t like arguing with people. He’d rather something go smooth from the start. He’s not much of a fighter, he will if he has to but when he gets angry he tends to cry. Not because he’s upset but because he’s so frustrated he doesn’t know what else to do.

And he refuses to cry in front of Sebastian—he’s heard his roommate argue with people. Their neighbors, other interns at the law office, his ‘friend’ Hunter Clarington…he’s nasty; he gets right to the nerve of every conversation and presses on it, hard. He aims to hurt with a smug smile and a careless smirk, it’s one of the reasons he’ll be a great lawyer someday.

Blaine rounds the corner with his mail, flipping through some bills before bumping right into—“Noah.”

A taller, well-built guy smiles down at him, gentle blond hair a tad bit long, just enough to curl behind his ears. “Blaine, hey! I was hoping I’d see you.”

He laughs softly, trying to make his way towards the stairs without clearly acting like he wants out of this conversation. “Me? Why?”

“I’m having a house party on Wednesday, inviting a few friends from work and some neighbors from other apartments. Will you come?”

His eyes are a clear crystal blue, a bright hopeful smile that digs guiltily into his spine and honestly? If he wasn’t giving off some horror movie vibes, Blaine might actually find him attractive.

“Wednesday…” Blaine ponders over the word, tries to come up with any excuse under the sun about why he can’t make it. But he’s blanking. He doesn’t even work on Wednesday and shit he’s taking too long. “Uh. Sure. Okay.” Dumbass. “Let me see what Sebastian is doing.”

He can see the reaction as plain as day on Noah’s face, the way his eyes aren’t as bright anymore, his smile slipping just a fraction. Gone as soon as it appears.

“Oh, Sebastian.”

Blaine nods slowly, makes another slow move towards the steps. “Yeah, my roommate? Your party is for all the neighbors, right?”

“Right.” Noah nods. “Of course. I hope to see you both there.” He smiles, not completely genuine, but settled on the facts of the situation. While Noah seems harmless, Blaine isn’t going to his apartment by myself, regardless of living right down the hall.

“Well, I’ll let you know. I’m just going to…head upstairs.”

“Can I help with your bags? I’m going up too.”

Blaine smiles gently, pushing the door to the steps open with his shoulder. “No, thanks, I’m only a few floors up. Besides, I like carrying things…makes me feel like I’m not completely lazy in skipping my gym ritual.” He teases.

And with that he pushes the door open, letting out a slow breath that was stuck in the bottom of his lungs. He can’t seem to shake this uneasy feeling bubbling in his stomach, even though he’s sure Noah is harmless. He’s talked to Erica about it, but she never seems to take what he’s saying seriously.

Blaine shakes his head and exits the stairway onto his floor, wandering down the blue carpeted hall until he reaches his door. He holds the groceries with one hand and goes to unlock the doorknob when—

the door flies open for him. A smile is on his face until he sees who it is.

“Oh, it’s just you.” 

Blaine pushes his way through the small crack in the door Hunter has left him, apparently not thrilled with Blaine’s appearance in his _own_ apartment. He rolls his eyes as he walks towards the kitchen, Hunter—who’s shirtless by the way and wearing a towel—closes the door behind him.

“Aw, not happy to see me?”

“What gave me away?” Blaine mutters under his breath as he puts the bags of groceries on the kitchen counter.

Hunter leans against the counter and starts going through one of the grocery bags, “Hmm?” He grins, snatching an apple from the top.

Blaine _almost_ smacks his hand. Almost. “I said, why is it that you never have any clothes on in my apartment?”

“Sebastian prefers me naked.”

He scrunches his nose and takes out the smaller bags of vegetables and fruit. “Sorry I asked.”

It’s not that Hunter isn’t attractive, he is…that’s probably what’s so annoying about him. Much like Sebastian, both of them seem to realize that they’ve been graced with good looks—and use that as an advantage any possible chance they get. He’s just… _insufferable;_ Hunter digs under his skin in a way that makes it look like some sort of art form. He’s always around, usually naked and Blaine nine times out of ten has to put on a very loud movie if he and Sebastian are going at it in his bedroom.

 _Captain America_ had been his go-to…but now he has a bad association with the film and can no longer watch it for enjoyment. It’s now just for blocking out orgasms coming through the walls.

Like he said, _insufferable._

“Where’s Sebastian?” He shuts a few cabinets and pours himself a small cup of coffee.

“Here.” His roommate says as he walks into the room, buttoning his shirt.

Sebastian looks…good. Which Blaine knows isn’t that hard for him to do, especially like this—hair still wet from the shower and the scent of mint body soap wanting to yank him closer.

 He gives Blaine a wink as he looks at some of the remaining groceries on the kitchen counter. “Stir fry?”

The shorter smiles softly and glances over his shoulder as he opens the fridge, “You read my mind.”

Sebastian smirks and leans against the counter, his hand working through his wet locks. “Well if that’s true…” He chews on his lower lip, squints his eyes towards Blaine like he’s really trying to peel back the layers of his thoughts, “You should stop thinking about me in such a compromising position.”

He rolls his eyes as he pushes the juice aside but a soft smile tugs at the ends of his mouth. It’s moments like this where having Sebastian as a roommate isn’t so bad. That’s what he keeps trying to tell Erica…most of the time, all terrible shit is outweighed by something carefree and light…

Wait. “Where’s my coffee creamer?” Blaine turns around to look at the two men, closing the fridge.

Sebastian already looks guilty. “What?”

Blaine stares at him for a long moment before approaching the counter. “My creamer. You know, about this big,” He gestures with his hands, “Coffeemate, red lid. Hazelnut, sugar free?”

He ticks his tongue off the roof of his mouth. “Now when you say Coffeemate…”

“ _Sebastian_.” Blaine hates how he can see Hunter snickering in the corner of his eye, washing off his apple, _annoyingly_ taking a crunching bite out of it.

“Okay, fine. I used it this morning.”

“There was half a carton left.”

He shrugs his shoulder, “Hunter likes hazelnut too.”

This isn’t the end of the world, he _knows_ this. He doesn’t understand how something as simple as common courtesy seems to _escape_ Sebastian’s thought process. All he needed was a text, a ‘hey I finished your creamer, grab another one, sorry’. But no, he won’t get a sorry. Blaine doesn’t want to be that roommate that writes his name over all the things that are _his_ in the apartment; though he’s not quite sure that would help anyways.

“I was just at the store.”

“Maybe you should put ‘creamer’ on the list for next time.” Hunter oh-so-helpfully suggests from behind him.

He’s clearly trying to push Blaine’s buttons but that isn’t the worst thing. What’s _worse_ is Sebastian standing in front of him and _chuckling_ at Hunter’s flippant comment. Well, okay then.

“Don’t do it.” Sebastian warns as Blaine grabs the coffee mug.

But it’s too late. He spills the contents of the mug right down Sebastian’s shirt before calmly setting the mug down on the counter. Sebastian is stone still, that smirk completely gone off his face even though he can hear Hunter snorting.

“You might want to put laundry detergent on the list for next time. I think we’re out.”

Blaine walks to his bedroom and slams the door closed. He takes back what he said: sometimes he really dislikes his roommate.


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who is reading and giving this a chance! Much love. I have a tumblr under blainesebastian, feel free to stop by and say hello! :)

It’s not until Hunter leaves that Blaine feels comfortable moving around his apartment with intent for a shower. It’s one thing if Sebastian catches him naked…which, has only happened once, but it’s another thing if Hunter does. Not that he even walks around naked, he totally doesn’t. But he doesn’t want Hunter to see him in his underwear either.

He opens up one of the drawers in his dresser and stuffs clothes inside, holding his cellphone between his ear and shoulder, “It’s not just about the creamer.”

Erica laughs softly through the speaker, like she could see this coming eight miles away, “What is it about then?”

“It’s about my invasion of privacy,” Blaine tugs a sweatshirt out from the bottom of his dresser and smells it before throwing it towards a hamper. “Hazelnut hijinks.” Something crinkles on her end. “Are you eating popcorn?”

“It’s always so entertaining when you call.” He groans, putting another stack of laundry away. “I told you, you need another roommate.”

Blaine moves his phone to the other ear, “I need a new creamer.”

“Are you going to put your name on it so it doesn’t suffer the same creamer kidnapping fate?”

He moves to open his bedroom door and peek down the hallway and hears Sebastian moving around in the living room, “No, obviously I’m just going to start using more of his shit and not tell him when he’s out of it.”

“Is your middle name ‘petty’ and just never told me?”

“His cereal and shampoo are no longer safe.” Blaine comments quickly as he walks to the bathroom.

“Blaine ‘Petty’ Anderson has a nice ring to it.”

He closes the door and runs a hand through his curls before scrunching his nose at her comment, “Excuse you. You’re supposed to be on my side.”

He turns the shower on, letting the water run to get to the temperature he wants. “There are no sides when it comes to grocery retaliation,” She informs him as he takes his socks off. A bag crinkles again, which means she’s either closing up the popcorn or trying to get to the bottom for more kernels. “It’s a loveless war.”

Blaine chuckles, holding the phone again between his ear and shoulder so he can undo his jeans. “Are you coming over tonight?”

“Yep,” She pops her ‘p’ like bubblegum. “Pad Thai?”

“Absolutely. See you then.” He hangs up the phone and sets it on the sink, undressing the rest of the way and throwing his clothes into the dirty clothes bin.

Blaine showers quickly and definitely uses twice as much of Sebastian’s shampoo than he has to and steps out onto the bathmat only to realize…he forgot a towel.

“Fuck.” He mutters under his breath, trying to figure out what he could do.

He really, _really_ doesn’t want to put his underwear back on, not to mention he’s still soaking wet. He supposes he could use a hand towel…but what are the odds that Sebastian would choose that moment to need something from his room and see him?

Highly likely.

So that just leaves…

Blaine sighs and leans against the door for a moment before opening it up a fraction, “Sebastian!” He waits for a second…maybe he should just make a run for it? No. If his roommate heard him he’d be heading his way. “Sebastian, I need your help for a second!”

Finally, Sebastian pauses outside the bathroom door. He’s changed since the coffee incident, wearing a pair of black shorts and a zip-up maroon hoodie that looks like it’s been slept in too many times. He smirks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Are you naked in there?” He goes to push the door open. “And you said you need my help…”

Blaine slams the door shut, “No.”

He can hear a soft chuckle through the wood, “So you don’t need my help?” Sebastian leans against the door, “You can stay in there as long as you want but you’ll eventually need to come out.”

He finds himself rolling his eyes but his roommate is right…and he really doesn’t want to wait around for Erica to show up. Or worse, Hunter.

“Alright fine, will you just…hand me a towel, please?”

“Do you have a color preference?”

He grits his teeth, “Sebastian, just _hand me a towel.”_

Sebastian laughs as he walks down the hall and then back, knocking so Blaine will open the door. When he complies, Sebastian sticks his hand through…but he’s not holding a fluffy towel.

Blaine takes a Coffeemate Hazelnut sugar free creamer into his hands. “This is not a towel.”

“Very observant, you’re going to be a great veterinarian.”

“I don’t want to be a veterinarian.” Blaine lies through his teeth.

“Yes, you do.” Sebastian counters, “I got you two of them, other one is in the fridge. Also told Hunter he can’t have use it unless he replaces it. Which, he’s far too cheap to do. So I wouldn’t worry.”

Blaine runs his thumb over the lid for a moment, a small smile making its way onto his face without his permission. He hadn’t been expecting this, still isn’t quite sure why Sebastian did it. He’s capable of doing nice things, sure, but it’s usually for something else in return.

“Oh,” Comes out of his mouth because he doesn’t know what else to say. Then, “thank you.”

A few moments pass before Sebastian adds, “So you wanna use that to cover up, or?” But before Blaine can add any comments, the taller just laughs, “I’m kidding. Stop glaring at the door; you’ll end up setting it on fire.” And passes a towel through the opening.

\---

_This is not a big deal, you’re making it into a big deal._ Which is something Blaine tends to do far too often; overthink, overdo. _Stop._ He needs to realize that he doesn’t have control over this situation and that it’s okay. Blaine likes the feeling of everything having an end-game, of knowing how things are going to play out.

He gets that it’s not always possible but when it happens, when everything slides into place just so—that’s a good day for him. Even if it’s something small like getting out of work on time, when the barista around the corner knows his exact coffee order, or Hunter _not_ coming over and being able to spend time with Sebastian doing mundane things like folding laundry or cooking together.

Blaine selfishly wants this to work out the same way. Even though he knows it might not, he doesn’t _have_ to go to Noah’s house party. He doesn’t have any obligation to him, other than it would just be a nice neighborly thing to do. He can come up with a million and one excuses about why he can’t go…

but he wants to ask Sebastian anyways.

His roommate is in the living room on the couch, watching a re-run of a TV show that has far too many seasons. Something mindless to do before he has to figure out what he’s eating for dinner and review internship paperwork. Sometimes Blaine finds him awake at three in the morning, back hunched over depositions and requests and files, almost falling asleep head-first into the coffee table.

He admires the dedication but he needs to get more sleep than that if he wants to be any shape of useful at that law firm.

This is the perfect time to approach him; Erica shouldn’t be here for another twenty minutes at least so he can ease into this conversation. He has no idea why he’s getting so worked up over this, it’s just _Sebastian,_ and he’s acting like a fourth grader getting ready to ask his crush on a first date. Which is…not who he and Sebastian are to one another at all.

He plops into the corner of the couch and sighs, tugging at the t-shirt he’s put on and scrunching his nose at the TV, “ _Grey’s Anatomy_? Really?”

“Shut up,” Sebastian smacks his thigh with the remote. “I don’t want to hear it, Mister ‘Five hours of _Vampire Diaries’_.

“There was a marathon and nothing else on,” Blaine mumbles under his breath but his cheeks kiss pink at the weak excuse.

“Right,” He lets out a soft laugh and stretches out his legs, his shirt inching up slightly to expose a sliver of skin that is far too distracting. As aggravating as his roommate may be, he’s every bit of attractive as acts. “Erica disrupting our night?”

Blaine lifts his head and blinks, wasn’t paying attention. Erica? Oh, “Just bringing dinner over, might stay a while. You know how she is.”

“I know she’s annoying.”

He laughs, loud and sudden because _really._ “Oh, I’m sorry. You must be talking about your friend Hunter the cream ‘napper.”

Sebastian sighs and rolls his eyes but there’s a smirk dimpling his one cheek, “Never going to live that down, is he?”

Blaine crosses his arms over his chest, “No.”

Sebastian turns the volume down on the TV and angles his body towards Blaine, his knee brushing the outside of his thigh. “Hunter has some redeemable qualities, you know.”

“Any of them not include what he can do in bed?”

His roommate is quiet a moment and Blaine can feel Sebastian looking at him, eyes trailing over his jawline, his mouth, the length of his neck. He doesn’t squirm even though he kind of wants to; just stubbornly keeps his eyes on the TV. He wants to know how Sebastian does that, how he makes someone feel completely naked, open and exposed just by looking at them.

“Are you jealous?”

Now Blaine really does squawk out a laugh, turning to look at him. “What no—”

“Because that’s all you have to say.” He grins.

“You’re insufferable,” Then, “Can you go to Noah’s house party with me?”

Sebastian blinks, didn’t expect that turn in conversation. Neither did Blaine exactly, shit; this is not how he wanted this to go. Typical.

“Oh well, since you asked me so kindly…” Sebastian pauses for dramatic effect. Dick. “No.”

He gets up from the couch and sets the remote on the table, heading to the kitchen. Blaine is on his heels in a matter of seconds, “Come on, please?”

The taller gets a glass down from the cabinet before reaching inside the fridge for the iced tea pitcher, “Why don’t you ask Erica?”

“Because you’re my roommate, it’s for neighbors.”

Sebastian pours tea into his glass and takes a long sip, “Erica practically lives here as often as Hunter does.”

Blaine scrunches his nose; don’t remind him. “She’s busy that night.” He has no idea if that’s true—he hasn’t asked her, “I want to go with you.”

He smirks and puts the tea away, closing the fridge with his foot. “Oh _want,_ hmm? You _want_ to go with insufferable, little ol’ me?”

Blaine groans, leaning onto the kitchen counter. He’s going to have to beg, he knows it.

“That’s a very different way of inviting me.” He grabs the sugar bowl near Blaine’s arm.

He wonders if he should come up with a different approach but he doesn’t exactly have many cards to play. Blaine wants good relationships with his neighbors but it isn’t worth _begging_ Sebastian either.

“Can you go or not?”

Sebastian pauses, not giving him a quick response. Instead, he very slowly pours sugar into his glass of tea, his eyes never leaving Blaine’s. The shorter squirms a little because he knows Sebastian has him right where he wants him—right on the head of a pin. He _needs_ something from him, so of course he’s going to drag this out.

“Why do you want me to go?”

Blaine groans, putting his head in his hands. “Of course you’re going to make this difficult.”

Sebastian puts his hands up in light surrender, “I’m not making it like anything. I’m merely curious.”

He stops leaning on the counter, trying to figure out how he should approach this as he moves to where Sebastian is standing. Should he just…tell him the truth? That Noah kind of makes him uneasy? That he wants good relationships with their neighbors in case they ever need anything? Maybe he should lie, say something cheeky, or forget the whole thing and ask Erica.

“I just don’t want to go alone.” Blaine finally says.

“Meaning you want to show up with a guy,” Sebastian turns to look at him, winking as he leans against the counter. Blaine shakes his head, but it’s too late, a teasing tone settles onto his words, “Are you trying to make Noah jealous? He’s into you, isn’t he?”

A soft laugh leaves Blaine’s lips as he rubs the back of his neck. So he’s not the only one who’s noticed Noah’s advancements, not that they’re exactly subtle. A naïve part of him still thinks that Noah just doesn’t know how to make friends and that he’s getting all these signals mixed up. The other part of him knows better.

“Noah is…he kind of makes me feel uneasy. Sometimes. But I’m trying to be nice, okay? Neighbor Peace Treaty.”

Sebastian laughs softly and shakes his head, a look passing over his face that he can’t quite pin down. Amusement, definitely…but something else, something deeper underneath the surface. Admiration? Whatever it is, it’s gone as soon as it appears.

“Haven’t you heard about what happens when you give a stray dog a bone?”

Blaine chews on his lower lip, considering a moment. “Maybe he’s not even into me, you know? I could be reading into this all wrong.”

“Of course he’s into you,” Sebastian tuts, taking another sip of tea. “Have you seen your ass?” Blaine shakes his head with a roll of his eyes to the ceiling but his skin betrays him with a gentle flush down his neck, “Especially in those vet scrubs.”

“Okay,” So _not_ the point. “I just…I don’t want to go by myself and give him the wrong impression.”

His roommate hums, done teasing him, sets his iced tea down and nods his head. “You want me to go so he’ll leave you alone.”

_Finally._ Blaine smiles up at him when he realizes he’s going to agree. He’s going to be able to do this—go to this party, avoid Noah asking him out _and_ keep up appearances with his neighbors all at the same time.

“I just need you to act like you’re interested in me. An hour, two tops.”

Sebastian smirks and takes a step towards him, into his personal space but Blaine remains still, planted, gazing up into soft green eyes. He’s close enough to start counting freckles on his cheekbones, how they decorate closer to the bridge of his nose then fanning out. One, two, three, four… he gets lost in how beautiful Sebastian can be, close up.

He’s tall and lean, fills out his work suit in every perfect way. Brown hair that looks even better windswept on stormy days in New York. It’s not fair, looking so lovely without any effort whatsoever.

Blaine really wonders what it looks like to see him smile, _genuinely_ smile. Not the facetious sort of smirk that dances on the edges of his mouth sometimes when he wants to say something nasty or put more imaginary barriers up between them.

This is how Sebastian operates, however, pushing people out of their comfort zone. All about equal and opposite reactions, figuring out what makes someone tick.

He brings his hand up and his fingers play with a curl near Blaine’s ear, sending warmth down his neck and into his belly. “Won’t be much of an act, B.”

A breath stifles in his throat as Sebastian sends him off balance; constantly in free fall around him, never knowing which way is up or out. What is he _actually_ telling him? That he’s interested? Interested in what? Or maybe he knows the answer to that, instantly responding to Sebastian’s proximity—the heat of his body, the scent of his skin and cologne.

It’s making him dizzy.

His eyes flicker to Sebastian’s lips, clearing his throat, “Is that a yes?” He doesn’t know what else to say. Everything about the boy in front of him is a game, a lie, nothing as it appears to be.

Free falling is terrifying, beyond his control, makes him want to reach out and grab something and never let go. But the fluttering in his stomach, Sebastian’s fingers brushing along his jawline as he lets go of a curl, the way he _looks_ at him like everything else has faded into the background, blurry, non-existent…it’s hard for Blaine to admit that he kind of likes how it makes him feel.

He hears the door close before he sees her, but that still doesn’t relay the message from his feet to his brain to move. Instead, Sebastian moves first, turns to see Erica come into the kitchen with bags of food that she slowly sets down on the counter.

“Uh, sorry. Am I…interrupting something?”

“Usually.” Sebastian informs her, the teasing in his voice completely gone. He’s annoyed with her presence but he does eye the take-out bags with a keen interest.

Erica isn’t sure how to respond and Blaine has suddenly lost all the words that he knows underneath his tongue. He blinks as she looks back and forth between them, swallowing before unpacking the take-out bags.

“Of course you’re not interrupting anything,” He says, _finally,_ clears his throat and swats Sebastian’s hand with a warning glare. One, for insulting his friend, and two, for reaching for food that isn’t his.

“Yeah, I was just trying to figure out dinner for myself. Blaine, as always, was looking decent.”

Erica pauses as she unwraps Pad Thai and Blaine glares at Sebastian who just smiles sweetly at him before stealing an eggroll.

“Still want me for Wednesday?”

“ _Bye_ Sebastian,” Blaine adds pointedly, grabbing a few forks from a drawer.

Sebastian smirks and winks at him, chomping on the egg roll before disappearing from the room. Blaine can feel Erica’s eyes on him, tracing over his skin, trying to find answers before she asks any questions. He sighs, knows its coming; knows he shouldn’t look her in the eye but…

“What?”

She shrugs her one shoulder, chewing on her lower lip and grabs a few beers from the fridge. “What was that?”

“Nothing, he was just…being himself.” Blaine mumbles under his breath. He knows that’s a lame excuse but he’s not sure what else to say.

He takes one of the beers from her and pops it open, taking a long sip like that’ll somehow excuse him from more questions.

“Looked like you were flirting. You were practically breathing the same air.”

“I wasn’t flirting,” Blaine laughs, gives her this look like _seriously, come on. It’s Sebastian_ but even that feels worse on his face. Was he flirting? Was it so wrong if he was? Sebastian did it all the time to get something he wanted…couldn’t he do the same with this stupid party?

Besides… “It was more like he was flirting with _me_ anyways, which is really a…pretty consistent occurrence as far as Sebastian is concerned.”

She hums and takes a bite of her rice and chicken combo but doesn’t look convinced. “What’s going on Wednesday?”

For some reason, Blaine feels a heavy weight settle in his chest directly under his ribs, like cement. That feeling wells up in ribcage, attaches to bone, drags them down to the point where it feels like he’s holding his breath. He feels like he should have told Erica about Wednesday before Sebastian…even though there wasn’t a reason to do so. Obligated, in a way, because she’s his best friend.

And because she’s gotten the impression (which is partly his fault) that he hates his roommate, which really doesn’t make sense when she shows up and he’s practically squished against Sebastian.

“It’s just an apartment party down the hall,” Blaine says after a moment, takes a bite of his dinner. “Not a big deal.”

“But you’re going with Sebastian?” She points out, setting her beer down. She takes a seat at the counter, waiting for Blaine to join her. “I thought you didn’t like that tool.”

“No, that’s how _you_ said I felt about him.” He points out, sitting across from her. “And he’s not a tool…most of the time.”

A few moments pass before Erica nudges an eggroll over to him, her hand settling on his wrist. “I just don’t want to see you become a personified doormat.”

He smiles at her, gently nudging her leg with his own under the table. Blaine appreciates the sentiment, he really does. It’s nice to know that someone is looking out for him when he can’t always do it himself. “I know. But you don’t have to worry. I don’t…I’m not into Sebastian like that.”

Erica thumbs at his wrist and takes another sip of her beer, not speaking another word on it. He knows…

It doesn’t sound quite convincing to his ears either.

\---

It’s complicated.

That’s what Blaine wants to say every time Erica brings up something Sebastian has done in the past to drive him crazy. He can’t explain it. Yeah, okay, Sebastian irritates the shit out of him sometimes but other times they get along. So well that Blaine often finds himself wishing he would have had him for a roommate sooner.

He doesn’t have a school girl crush. It’s not like that. It’s just…okay, it’s liking chocolate and vanilla ice cream but not being able to pick a favorite. Sometimes he feels like chocolate, other times vanilla. Doesn’t mean he suddenly starts hating that other ice cream flavor.

So is Sebastian vanilla or chocolate ice cream? Wait. Now he’s confusing himself with his own metaphor.

He’s just trying to say it’s complicated; it’s not as easy to explain as it appears…as feelings rarely are.

The thing is, Blaine is sure that he does things that annoy Sebastian too. He clearly doesn’t like Erica as much as he dislikes Hunter…they’re fair in that respect. So it’s ironic to him that they’ve somehow all ended up in the same small space of their living room.

He originally had planned to spend the night with Erica, talking about a maybe-trip-plan to LA to visit his brother. Usually Sebastian chose nights like this to be scarce, at Hunter’s apartment or in his room working on internship cases. But he sat right down next to him mid conversation and turned the TV on.

“We were kind of in the middle of something,” Erica says pointedly from the loveseat.

Sebastian turns his head to look at her from his spot on the couch, smiles, all teeth, “Guess you know how it feels now, don’t you sweetheart.” As sweet sounding as candy yet dripping with metallic venom.

They’re about to move to Blaine’s bedroom but Sebastian puts on a movie that he really enjoys and it automatically captures his attention before he can get up.

“Since when do you like _Interview with a Vampire?”_

Sebastian smiles and glances over at Erica, “I don’t. But I know you do.” He locks eyes with her for a long moment before settling back into the couch, Blaine following the action as his eyes remain locked with the screen.

“You know the score for this is rather beautiful.”

“How could I not? You listen to that shit non-stop sometimes when you’re baking,” Sebastian mumbles, stretching his arm over the back of the couch and putting his feet on the coffee table.

Blaine grabs a pillow and hugs it to his chest, settling into the one corner. “Sometimes there’s show tunes too.”

“Please don’t tell me we’re watching a fucking musical.” Hunter strolls in and plops himself down on the other side of Sebastian.

The couch is just big enough for three people so he’s practically sitting on Sebastian’s lap. Blaine clears his throat and moves closer to the arm of the couch before raising an eyebrow, “How did you get in here?”

“I have my own set of keys.” Hunter replies, an edge to his voice. “Obviously.”

“He has his own set of keys?”

Sebastian shrugs his shoulder, “So does Erica.”

“I earned those keys.” She says, breaking her silence.

The taller laughs softly, “Right.” He then pats Blaine’s curls until his hand is swat away, “Don’t worry dear, I’ll put a padlock on your creamer.”

Hunter tilts his head towards Sebastian’s room, “Feel like doing something more…productive”

Sebastian hums, lets his hand rest on Hunter’s knee but glances at the TV. “You’ve tired me out, I’m afraid. Give me a chance to recharge.”

So his roommate stays.

“B, you’ve seen this movie like a hundred times. Can’t we table it for tonight?” Erica tries, nods towards his bedroom. “We’ve almost got our entire plan mapped out.” She smiles.

Blaine nods but… “Just a few more minutes, okay? My favorite scene is coming up and I really haven’t seen this movie in, like, a _year.”_

He’s not lying, it has been a while and it’s always been rather hard for him to walk away from it once it started playing on TV.

So he stays too.

Blaine wonders if this can become an actual thing…maybe they could all start getting along? Or at least tolerating one another’s presence. Sebastian’s right, Hunter and Erica practically live here as often as they do.

He expects them to just join in on conversations floating between him and Sebastian but other than a soft laugh every so often from Erica and a roll of Hunter’s eyes…they don’t. He supposes he should get going to his bedroom with Erica, talk more plans, maybe crawl in bed and watch another two to three episodes of _The Vampire Diaries_ (what, he’s in a good season, okay?) but before he can say anything she gets up and heads to the kitchen for another beer.

“Think I’ll take one too.” Hunter comments and stands, following her.

Blaine sighs and a soft yawn escapes him as he stretches, his one hand running through his curls, scratching at his scalp. Fine, he’ll just wait for her to come back.

“You know Lestat is totally gay, right?”

He turns to look at Sebastian, who looks a lot more comfortable now that Hunter isn’t practically on top of him. “What? He is not.”

“He doesn’t follow Louis around because he’s chill company.”

A soft laugh leaves Blaine’s lips, turning a little to look at Sebastian. He brings his legs up onto the couch, leaning a little towards his roommate. “Lestat made him, of course he’s looking after him.”

“He’s giving me gay vibes.”

“That’s a hard on.”

“Cheeky,” Sebastian grins at him, the dancing light from the television reflecting shadows over his face and making his features even more pronounced, sharp. “But I think it’s more than just turning him. He cares, wants something more for him.”

“And here I thought you weren’t paying attention.” Blaine teases, chewing on his lower lip, “Lestat is a perpetually selfish character; he recognizes something in Louis, something he was missing. He just doesn’t want to be alone.” 

“If Louis looked like Brad Pitt I wouldn’t want to leave him alone either.”

Blaine laughs, the action tipping him a little until he’s pressed against Sebastian’s side. He wants to move, his brain sends signals to his limbs which don’t cooperate. Sebastian is solid, warm, smells of soap and expensive cologne. He _wants_ to stay here regardless of what his brain says.

Sebastian doesn’t seem bothered, either, even shifts his body towards him to make Blaine more comfortable.

“You know Anne Rice wrote Lestat as bisexual, right?” Blaine adds a moment later, eyes flickering to the screen where Louis has failed at resisting human blood. “He had male and female lovers as a vampire and as a mortal.”

“Still think Lestat knows a good dick when he sees one.”

Blaine rolls his eyes, his head slowly falling to Sebastian’s shoulder. “Too bad you don’t have the same keen sense of dick when it came to Hunter.”

Sebastian laughs, Blaine can feel it through the vibrations of his body but he drifts asleep before he can hear the reply.

\---

Erica grabs another beer from the fridge, taking her time to pop the cap off and take a long sip. This is ridiculous, she should have just left when she realized she was going to end up spending the night with tweedle-dick and tweedle-dumbass.

She looks at the bottle and gages how much time it’ll take her to finish it. Maybe she could just leave, spend another night with Blaine planning trips he suddenly doesn’t seem too interested in. She knows that isn’t exactly fair…her friend didn’t plan on abandoning their conversation tonight.

Erica can see _right_ through Sebastian’s bullshit. Knows exactly what he was doing with buzzing around them tonight like an aggravating fruit fly, by putting one Blaine’s favorite movies on and stealing his attention.

She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. Great, now she sounds like…some sort of jealous girlfriend.

“Care to crack me open one?”

Erica turns to see Hunter leaning against the doorframe, a soft smirk dancing on his lips. “And here I thought my night couldn’t get any worse.”

Hunter hums, slowly making his way into the room. He opens the fridge and pulls out a beer and uses the edge of the counter to get the cap off. “Must be hard seeing them together.”

She frowns, her fingers playing with the label that’s peeling off her beer bottle. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He laughs a little, leans against the counter and gives her this _look_ that digs under her skin, burrows there, festers. “Sebastian can see right through you, senses blood in the water like a fucking shark. He’s very good at it, that’s why he’ll eventually be a great lawyer.”

“Sounds like you have a crush.”

He shrugs, “I have an appreciation for his dick. It’s not the same thing.” Hunter waits until he steals her gaze, “He’s pressing on a nerve and from what I can tell, its working.”

Erica wants out of this kitchen but her feet stay cemented into the tile, under the squares, stuck. “Blaine’s my best friend. Maybe I just don’t like seeing him someone like Sebastian who only wants him for one thing.”

He laughs a little and straightens his back before taking a sip of beer, “Oh _sweetie._ You’re transparent. You’re vapor.” Hunter shakes his head, licking his lips. “Why do you think Sebastian chose to spend so much time with Blaine tonight other than to push your buttons?”

Is she really that translucent? Can people see right through her? Can Blaine? She knows he’s rather oblivious sometimes with how people feel…and she knows that he would _never_ see her the same way and wouldn’t expect him to. But how embarrassing would that be? For him to know how she feels about him?

“It must really bother you, doesn’t it? That Blaine doesn’t really dislike Sebastian as much as he sometimes claims to.”

Erica decides that she can leave, maybe without even talking to Blaine. He’ll forgive her like he always does. She needs to get herself together, remind herself that being Blaine’s best friend is better than not knowing him at all.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” She puts the beer down, ready to walk out of the room.

“I think I do. And I have a proposal for you.”

She hates that she actually stops right in the doorway. Hates that she’s willing to even hear what he has to say. But as she gazes back into the living room, Blaine’s head on Sebastian’s shoulder, asleep…

She isn’t strong enough to walk away.

“Neither of us really flourish with Sebastian and Blaine being roommates. Sebastian steals all of Blaine’s attention, especially since they’re getting closer, and I’m tired of living in a shoebox apartment in Brooklyn.”

Erica isn’t sure she follows. “So…what are you saying?”

Hunter takes a step towards her, gently pulling her back inside the kitchen, away from listening ears. “I’m saying that their lease is up in a month. I’m saying, let’s break them up.”

“They’re not even dating.” She says carefully.

He sighs, rolling his eyes to the ceiling, annoyed with the fact that he has to spell this out to her. “I’m _saying_ let’s get them to hate one another. We both know exactly what buttons to press. Blaine moves out, I move in…and you’ve got your best friend back in need of some comfort.” He smiles, a devious light flickering behind his eyes.

Erica glances at the hand still on her wrist, “How do you even know Blaine will be the one to move out? This was his place first.”

“First his ex and then another roommate debacle? He won’t want to stay here.”

This is crazy. Why is she even still listening to this? This wouldn’t work and regardless of that, she couldn’t do something like that to Blaine…could she?

“I’d be hurting someone I care about.” She states but she’s not sure whether she’s talking to Hunter or herself.

He has her exactly where he wants her, closes the metal trap, locking her in, “Or you’re just pushing Blaine to see who Sebastian really is. He’s not a nice person, he never was. You’re saving your best friend from being chewed up and spat back out.”

Hunter runs his thumb over her wrist, her beating pulse point pounding against her skin.

“One day he’ll thank you.”  

Erica glances up at Hunter before pulling her hand free, grabbing her beer. She brushes past him, her shoulder roughly colliding with his own as she heads back into the living room. She can hear his short smirk, amused with her actions because he already has her answer.

She sinks into the loveseat, glancing over at Blaine as he shifts in his sleep, curling further into Sebastian who keeps his eyes on the screen.

_Her blood coursed through my veins sweeter than life itself, and as it did, Lestat’s words made sense to me. I knew peace only when I killed, and when I heard her heart in that terrible rhythm, I knew again what peace could be._

Though, as she looks at them longer, she can see his hand playing with curls at the base of Blaine’s neck.

Erica settles back into the cushion and takes another sip of her beer. She’s in for a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quotes come directly from the movie Interview with the Vampire. Love that film! So naturally so does Blaine ;)


	3. three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who is reading and leaving reviews! Much appreciated! I have a tumblr, blainesebastian, feel free to stop by and say hello!

They all end up spending the night, which is not uncommon. It’s happened before, just…not quite like this. Hunter and Sebastian end up in his bedroom but Blaine usually ends up in his own with Erica. He wakes up curled on the couch, blinking as he sits up, not sure where he is until his vision focuses. Oh. That’s why his lower back hurts.

Blaine pulls himself from the cushions, pushing aside a blanket that was settled over his shoulders with a yawn. It feels early but the clock is telling him it’s ten AM; he’s glad he doesn’t have work because he definitely would have missed his shift. He stretches his arms over his head and stands, the bones in his knees and shoulders popping.

He wanders down the hall and glances into Sebastian’s room, glad to see it’s empty. His roommate must be at his internship and he’s just glad to see Hunter still isn’t naked wrapped in his sheets. When he looks in his own room, a soft smile touches his mouth as he sees Erica in his bed, glad to see she didn’t leave.

Breakfast is definitely in order.

Pulling out all the necessities, Blaine puts together the batter for French toast while filling up the coffee maker with fresh coffee to brew…because it seems like Sebastian had the last cup and didn’t put another pot on. Again.

It’s just a little tick he has. It makes _sense_ to put a pot of coffee on when you finish the last cup. Common courtesy, not rocket science. For some reason Sebastian still has yet to figure that one out.

He pours two cups of coffee when it’s finished and begins breakfast, setting the golden-brown cinnamon coated toast on a plate to the side. Erica comes into the kitchen a few moments later, a yawn escaping her mouth.

“Morning beauty.”

She grunts in response, total zombie before coffee and he laughs a little as he looks over his shoulder at her grabbing a cup.

“I see you found my sweatshirt drawer.”

Erica looks down at the sweatshirt she’s wearing and even though Blaine is around the same height as her, the fabric swims against her thin frame. The bottom settles right above her knees, her sunflower thigh tattoo completely covered except for a few yellow petals peeking out the bottom.

“Sorry, much more comfortable than jeans. You were passed out.”

Blaine smiles; her borrowing his clothes doesn’t bother him. He puts another finished piece of French toast on the pile. “And you just left me on the couch?”

She sits down at the counter and adds more sugar to her coffee. “Well, I wasn’t going to carry you.”

Valid point. He sets the French toast down on the counter and turns the stove off before grabbing cinnamon, powdered sugar and syrup to eat their breakfast with. “Sorry last night didn’t turn out how it was supposed to.”

Erica shrugs, taking a few pieces off the plate before sprinkling sugar on top. “Sebastian requires a lot of…attention, I get it. He’s like a cat.”

“Actually, cats are pretty independent animals,” Blaine trails off because oh. She’s upset with him. “Come on, it wasn’t that bad.” He digs into his breakfast, syrup covering his plate. “We all got to hang out and actually survived the night without wanting to kill one another. I’d mark that down as successful.”

“He spent the entire night with us,” Erica points out, taking a sip of her coffee. She gives him this _look_ over the rim of the mug but he’s having trouble deciphering what it’s supposed to mean. “He never does that.”

Blaine pauses a moment because, really? Is that the only time Sebastian has ever done that? Okay, so let’s say she’s right.

“So?” He doesn’t get the correlation. “It’s his apartment too. Maybe he just didn’t feel like spending the night going over court cases.”

Erica takes another bite of her food, the next few moments quiet between them, only sounds echoing in the kitchen are silverware scraping against plates and mugs being sat down on the counter.

“He was in our business to specifically annoy me.”

Blaine lets a soft laugh slip out of his lips, “Oh come on,” Then realizes she’s serious. “Erica, really? I think Sebastian has a lot of better things to do than think about how he’s going to aggravate you.”

“You didn’t see the way he was looking at me last night.”

He frowns, straightening his back a little in his chair. “What do you mean?”

She runs her hands over her face before shaking her head, standing from her chair. She takes her plate to the sink to stuff a half piece of eaten French toast down the garbage disposal before running water to rinse out her mug.

“Nothing. Never mind, I have work.”

Blaine catches her arm before she can leave the kitchen, “Wait, hey.” She pauses, his thumb tracing over the skin of her wrist. “Do you want me to talk to him?”

She swallows, glancing down at the hand on her skin. “No,” She says softly, then smiles a little before using her free hand to rub her forehead. “I obviously didn’t get enough sleep. I’m accusing Sebastian of being smarter than he is.”

Blaine chuckles, giving her a playful wink. “Happens to the best of us.” He lets go of her hand so she can go to his bedroom to get her things.

“So we’re okay?” He calls after her and she pauses at the doorframe to look back at him.

Erica nods her head before the smile on her face fades for just a fraction. Trick of the light maybe. “We’re always going to be okay.” She assures him before disappearing around the corner.

\---

Blaine never really has to worry about Erica, which is nice, they rarely get into fights and when they do it all ends pretty quickly with a nice set of apologies.

Sebastian is…another story. More often than not they’re fighting about _something_ , usually on the ridiculous side and sometimes they won’t speak to one another until the storm passes on its own. Rarely are there apologies…which really makes Blaine think about how they end up working, how they keep living together. Has to be because it’s never about anything too serious, ridiculous spats about Blaine finishing the last of the coffee before Sebastian’s internship starts or Sebastian shrinking Blaine’s vet scrubs.

They’re usually spaced out; during the week they barely see one another with work schedules and hanging out with their own friends and obligations. But for some reason, those little tiffs are happening a lot more frequently.

“ _Again?”_ Blaine yanks his mint green scrubs from the drier and storms into Sebastian’s room without bothering to knock. “Again.”

Sebastian looks up at him from his desk and raises an eyebrow. “That word is usually used in a different connotation in here.” He licks his lips. “What are you talking about?”

“You shrunk my scrubs _again._ This is the second time this week.”

His eyebrows scrunch together. “I didn’t touch your scrubs.”

“This is one of my last pairs, what am I going to wear to work?” Blaine throws the shirt, which now resembles something a dog might fit in, onto Sebastian’s desk. “I can’t keep using my money to buy clothes, we need it for bills.”

He sighs and uses his pen to move the shirt off his desk and onto the floor. “Stop being so dramatic.”

Blaine scoffs, his hand going to his chest, “ _I’m_ being dramatic.”

It’s not a question, but Sebastian answers it anyways, standing from his desk. “ _Yes, you_ are. This is not something to be upset about.”

He really, _really,_ doesn’t want to get pulled into an argument but the nonchalant demeanor on his roommate’s face is yanking him over the edge. “Don’t tell me when I’m allowed to be upset about something,” He argues because now he’s just sizzling over the fact that Sebastian is belittling his emotions. He’s _allowed_ to be upset whenever he wants to about anything he wants!

“I just want you to pay attention when you’re doing laundry.”

Sebastian nods, “I will.” And for a moment, Blaine actually thinks that’s the end of it. “If you start paying attention to where you put your scrubs. I’m not apologizing because you keep putting them in the wrong bushel.”

“Forget it!” Blaine snaps, “We don’t need to pay the electric. Who needs the internet? I’ll just keep buying new scrubs!”

He smiles and for a moment Blaine wishes he was more of a violent person because he’d walk right over there and smack the grin off his face—part of him still considers doing it when Sebastian replies, “You should at least try on the smaller pants. What wonders they’d probably do for your ass.”

The only way Blaine replies is by wailing the scrub bottoms at Sebastian’s head before storming out of his bedroom.

\---

Blaine positions his phone between his ear and his shoulder so he can use both hands to flip through hangers on a rack. He can’t find his size. He goes to the next rack before putting a few scrub pants over his left arm.

“You go back and forth on this all the time.”

He sighs. It’s not like Cooper is exactly wrong, he _does_ go from one extreme to the other as far as Sebastian is concerned. But it’s entirely his fault; he wouldn’t need to keep trying to figure out where he stands if his roommate would stop _aggravating_ him.

“No one said I wasn’t allowed to be indecisive,” Blaine says, moving to another rack. He hopes to find some that are on sale, even if they’re an ugly color. “The lease is up in a month. Maybe I should reconsider who I’m renting with.”

A soft laugh leaves his brother’s mouth, “You really going to kick him off the lease?”

Even though Cooper is all the way in LA, Blaine can hear the skepticism in his tone. The fact that Blaine wouldn’t do something like that—too nice, too non-confrontational. The fact that, yeah, he’s mad now but he won’t be later, not enough to actually argue with him about the lease.

He sighs, grabbing a Dalmatian printed scrub top and putting it over his arm. “He’s just…insufferable.”

Cooper laughs, “Yes, you’ve said this. But not all the time, right?”

“Just lately.”

“Men,” His brother says pointedly, a teasing tone hanging on his words. “So fickle with their behavior. No wonder he’s getting under your skin.”

Blaine grins and rubs the back of his neck, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. He really misses Cooper sometimes, wishes he didn’t live so far away. Though he can only imagine the trouble they’d be getting into if they lived closer.

“Shut up. You’re supposed to be helping, not making fun of me.” He points out, sets down his scrubs on a nearby chair near the dressing room to figure out how many he has.

“Sometimes it’s too easy to do both.”

“You’re not even doing the one thing I called you for!”

So, he has three bottoms…needs two more tops. He can’t believe he’s stocking up on scrubs. Blaine used to be able to live with two pairs when he was with his ex, now with Sebastian he has to own at _least_ five. He grabs a basket to make browsing easier and moves about the store again; hopefully this little spur of the moment shopping trip doesn’t break his bank account.

It’s not like he expects Cooper to have all the answers, he doesn’t. Cooper, actually, doesn’t give the best advice if Blaine’s being honest. He has a big heart but he’s usually not making decisions with it. He supposes he just called him because he needed to laugh and his brother will accomplish that small task.

He’s also more unbiased than anyone in his life right now. Doesn’t live here, doesn’t care one way or the other if Blaine has Sebastian as a roommate or someone else—he’s just glad his ex is gone.

“I’m providing entertaining commentary while you shop,” Cooper points out, “I’ve charged people money for less.”

Blaine snorts, “Honestly, I don’t know what to do. Having a roommate shouldn’t be so complicated. Every time I think we’re on the same page we end up in different novels. Sometimes in different languages.” He fingers a Captain America themed top before putting it into his basket.

Some of these are made for nurses, but, the dogs, cats and occasional hamsters certainly won’t mind.

“He speaks French, doesn’t he?”

“Cooper.”

“That’s hot. I’m just saying—”

He laughs, “ _Please._ Focus.”

“I don’t know what you want to hear, broski.” There’s cups tinging in the background, or, it might be pots and pans. What time is it there? Blaine checks his watch…three PM means its twelve PM in LA. Is he making lunch? “What does Erica have to say about all of this?”

Blaine pauses a moment, grabbing another scrub top that has flowers on it.

“Speaking of, why aren’t you talking to her about this? Isn’t she usually your go-to when Sebastian’s under your skin?”

Yeah, she is. Just lately…he’s had the sinking sensation that he shouldn’t bother her with it. Especially after that odd conversation in his kitchen. He hadn’t really known how to approach that accusation of how Sebastian made her feel. He knew Sebastian could be a dick, he wasn’t debating that, but would he really do something like that to make her uncomfortable on purpose?

“She’s just…got some work stuff going on,” He lies, taking his basket up to the cash register. “Didn’t want to put this on her too.”

Cooper sighs, like he doesn’t quite believe him. “Okay, well, I’m going to give you some advice that would usually cost at least 10.50.”

Blaine rolls his eyes and gets his wallet out of his back pocket, smiling softly at the girl at the register, handing her his credit card. “Okay, and?”

“Maybe instead of trying to kick him off the lease you should try to, I don’t know, actually get to know him?”

“I know he knows how to shrink laundry.” He mumbles under his breath, putting his card away and taking his bag of scrubs from the cashier. “Thank you.”

“I’m serious.” Another series of clanking. Cooper is definitely making lunch…or trying to, anyways. “What do you really know about the guy? Other than what he shows you?”

As Blaine walks to his car he chews on his lip… “That’s actually…really good advice, Coop.”

His brother laughs, “I’ll send you a check in the mail, Blainey.” And hangs up the phone.

Blaine sits in the front seat of his car for a few moments, letting the engine run, cool October air brushing through his curls like a set of firm fingers. Maybe Cooper does have a point? He doesn’t know Sebastian very well, not really. He knows surfaces of him, layers he only allows him to see. What would happen if he worked on Sebastian’s edges until he could peel those layers back, find something deeper, more real?

Would he like the Sebastian he found there? Would Sebastian let him in or push him further away?

He decides he’d like to find out.

\---

In theory it’s a great idea. The problem is, Blaine has no idea where to start. He and Sebastian more often than not have completely different schedules. It depends on the day but sometimes he doesn’t see his roommate until the late hours at night or very briefly in the morning before he leaves for the day. He’s also trying and failing to figure out what the hell they have in common other than living together.

Blaine contemplates options as he folds laundry in the living room, making separate stacks for both him and Sebastian.

Cooking would be nice; he’s always found that bonding over good food was one of the simplest ways to get to know someone. Great idea, except it’s usually one of them making breakfast or dinner and leaving it for the other. Sometimes they’re both home for lunch but nine times out of ten they’re rushing back to their jobs to clock back in.

He groans, frustrated. There has to be _something_ they can do together, to talk. He knows he should probably just _ask_ Sebastian for a time that’s good for him, to go out for dinner or to make time for a movie night. Something easier than this. But Blaine doesn’t want his roommate to know what he’s up to—first of all, he’d never stop giving him shit for it and two, if he wants to see the _real_ Sebastian underneath all the smirky commentary…he’s going to have to be stealth with his intentions.  

Blaine sets down a pair of running shorts onto Sebastian’s pile and pauses, fingers still brushing over the material.

Bingo.

\---

“Morning.”

Sebastian looks over his shoulder as he ties one of his running shoes, frowning a little. “Aren’t you up a little early? Or am I running late.”

“Running, no exactly,” Blaine nods, but Sebastian still looks confused. Oh. “I mean, you go running every morning around this time, right?”

“No, I just like to put running gear on and then walk around in the kitchen.”

He laughs softly and rubs the back of his neck, “I was wondering if I could join you.”

“I thought you hated running,” Sebastian points out, an amused smile tugging the ends of his mouth.

“When have I ever said that?” Blaine asks, moving into the kitchen to get a water from the fridge.

“’I hate running’,” Sebastian leans on the counter. “That was a direct quote from the last time you saw me up at this hour.”

The shorter waves him off with a soft ‘psh’ noise. “I changed my mind.” Sebastian hums. “I’m allowed to do that, you know.”

Sebastian laughs softly, hands up in mock surrender. “Oh I’ve got no objections,” His eyes trace over his form, very obvious and careful in what he’s doing.

Blaine swallows, concentrates everything he has on not squirming—won’t give him that satisfaction. Sebastian is the only one he knows who can make him feel so naked, exposed, with just one brush of his eyes over his body.

“Just don’t fall behind.” He winks and is out the door.

Blaine scoffs; how hard could it be?

\---

It’s five in the morning and they’ve literally jogged to Central Park, and, okay their apartment isn’t that far away but it certainly is when you _run all the way there._ He doesn’t want to know how many miles he’s been at it, Blaine comes to the conclusion that this was a terrible idea. Sebastian doesn’t even try to slow his pace for him either, no, he makes Blaine match his stride.

Which isn’t even _fair._ Sebastian has long-ass spider legs compared to his own. _This was a terrible idea_. He repeats that over and over in his head like a mantra to match his heartbeat until they finally slow down.

Fuck.

Sebastian’s breathing has barely changed as Blaine puts his hands on his knees and takes deep gulps into his lungs, trying to regulate his oxygen. How does he do this every morning?

“I have to say I’m impressed, I didn’t think you’d make it.”

If Blaine could feel his fingers he’d give him the middle one. He just rolls his eyes and stands up straight, putting his hands on his hips. “You know, swimming is easier on your joints.”

The taller laughs, buying a water off of a food cart. He takes a few long sips before, “I can’t swim before my internship. Not enough time.”

“But you have enough time to run the entire city of New York?”

“Oh, come on. It wasn’t that bad. I don’t usually stop in Central Park but I didn’t want you to faint on me,” He teases, offering him his water.

“So generous of you.” Blaine mumbles, taking the bottle like it’s his only lifeline and finishes half of it in seconds.

Sebastian uses the front of his shirt to wipe sweat off his face and then stretches his leg out on a bench. Blaine’s eyes zero in on the action, watching his muscles relax and contract. It’s tantalizing in a way it shouldn’t be…so he blames it on not enough oxygen reaching his brain.

“You know we still have to run all the way back.”

Blaine groans, putting his face in his hands for a moment before shaking his head. “Don’t remind me.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Sebastian smiles, stretching out his other leg.

“Yeah, I always look like I’m about to have a heart attack when I’m running. Part of my charm.”

“For paramedics, maybe.” The taller chuckles. “Come on, we’ll walk through the park.”

Blaine allows Sebastian to gently guide him down a hill further into the park, breathing becoming more natural the more they walk. Silence stretches over both of them but it’s comforting in a way that they don’t need words to communicate—just their combined breathing, fingers brushing as they share a bottle water and shoulders occasionally bumping.

“Central Park is nice when there’s not a lot of people in it,” Blaine teases, looking over at Sebastian.

The taller chuckles, pausing before taking off towards a large rock formation ahead of them. His legs stretch in front of him and Blaine observes as he makes it to the top with what looks like practiced ease. Coordinated, graceful… Blaine’s legs feel like jelly just by watching him.

“Why do you think I jog so early in the morning?” He points out. “You coming?”

Blaine scrunches his nose, trying to figure out how he can get up there without injuring, or _worse,_ embarrassing himself. “Uh, no. I’ll just watch thanks.”

Sebastian laughs, taking a step down and outstretching his hand to him, “Come on, I’ll help you.”

He stares at the hand for a long moment before he realizes he doesn’t have a choice. Blaine takes Sebastian’s hand and starts to climb, allowing him to tug him up on the rock. He holds on tight, butterflies licking the edges of his stomach as he almost loses his balance once or twice…but his roommate never lets him fall.

A breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding leaves his lips as he makes it to the top, sitting down on the rock to overlook some of the park. Sebastian settles next to him, his body heat pressing in on his pores. It almost makes him feel like he might suffocate, wanting to take the other in—absorb him, figure him out just by looking. By feeling.

The park is beautiful, still quiet, gentle breezes and birds talking.

Blaine glances over at Sebastian, who is still so put together even after running and climbing giant rocks. He can’t imagine what he looks like; cheeks flushed, bits of sweat sticking to his skin, messy damp curls that keep brushing over his forehead. A mess.

“Hunter hasn’t been around lately.” He says after a moment and…Blaine has no idea why _that’s_ what comes out of his mouth to break the silence.

Sebastian shrugs but doesn’t look at him, “It’s not like Hunter and I are dating. Sometimes I need a break from that. From him.”

“Don’t want it to get too serious?”

He smiles at him, shaking his head, “Things between Hunter and I are never serious.”

Blaine wonders what that’s like, just being with someone for the sake of fooling around. A companion but not really, someone who’s there because you can enjoy their company, because you can have sex with them with no strings attached but at the same time they’re someone you never let get too close. Maybe it’s something he should consider even though he’s never really been the type to have something meaningless.

“And Erica?”

He smiles and stretches his legs out, “I’m seeing her tonight. Apparently there’s a _Captain America_ movie marathon on that I can’t miss.”

“No,” Sebastian turns a little, “I mean, you and her aren’t…”

It takes Blaine a moment to figure out what Sebastian is implying because he doesn’t think about Erica like that. His mouth makes an ‘O’ shape before laughing, his cheeks growing red, the back of his neck quickly matching in color.

“No, no. Erica and I are just friends. Really good friends but…not like that.”

Sebastian runs a hand through his hair, “Yeah, she seems a little crazy.”

Blaine chuckles, “This coming from someone who gave Hunter a key to our apartment?”

He leans back against the rock, the breeze kissing their sweat sticky skin, “She looks at you with puppy dog eyes. I just assumed.”

Does she? Maybe Sebastian was confusing emotions… ‘puppy dog eyes’ could easily be mistaken for adoration or something similar. Wasn’t that how best friends looked at one another?

“No she does not,” He says after a moment. “We care about one another, we’ve been friends for a long time through some really hard stuff.”

Sebastian nods his head, squints at something in the distance before saying, “You were a difficult one for me to read…think it’s just because you’re so friendly with, well, _everyone._ ” He says that like he has a bad taste in his mouth which makes Blaine’s eyebrows scrunch together, “I just assumed you were bi.”

“No, I mean…I thought I was when I was in high school for a while but.” He clears his throat. “You thought I was bi just because I was _nice_ to everyone?”

Sebastian grins, “Oops.”

Amazing. _Is this really the thought process when you’re gay and equally an asshole to everyone?_ He clears his throat, restarting this conversation, “I’ve never had any girlfriends, few boyfriends. Last one was a real…piece of work.”

The taller watches him as he talks, not adding anything because he wants him to continue. His eyes are open like a field of grass, curious, his fingers idly playing with the lid of the water bottle. Blaine has never really told Sebastian about his ex, not really, just that they broke up and he abandoned the lease.

“We were together for a long time but…it seemed like I never made him happy. Felt like I couldn’t do anything right. He was always…jealous too, even though we weren’t interested in the same line of work or hobbies. Sometimes things fell into my lap without even trying and instead of congratulating me he’d make me feel small for it.”

Blaine swallows and looks down at the rock underneath them, following a crack in the surface with his pointer finger. Sebastian’s eyes are trailing over his body, he can feel them, digging into his pores. Opening him up. He feels a shiver course down his spine before he dares to look at him, smiles weakly at being put under a microscope.

“Some people are just never happy with the fact that they’ll only ever be second best.” Sebastian tells him, gently bumping their shoulders together.

A flush crawls from his cheeks down his neck and he can’t help but smile because, fuck, that’s one of the…nicest things someone has ever said to him regarding his ex. And it’s weird because it’s not even _that_ nice but the sentiment, the fact that Sebastian understands where he’s coming from, the frustration he felt all those years dating someone who never appreciated him…that means something.

It just feels nice not having to completely explain himself or stumble with a bunch of questions he doesn’t have the answers to.

Blaine stutters with what to say next, caught up in the warm feeling blossoming in his chest that he says something incredibly stupid which refers to earlier in the conversation. “But yeah, anyways. I’m…I’m gay, so.”

_Really._

Sebastian laughs, “Oh so _that’s_ why you keep looking at me like that when I’m in a towel.” He teases, which makes Blaine roll his eyes and playfully bump their shoulders together again.

“Shut up.”

His roommate stands and brushes the dirt off of the back of his shorts, moving down the rock formation with practiced ease.

“Come on, need to get a move on or I’ll be late for my internship. I expect we’ll have to stop a few times on the way back so your lungs don’t end up permanently outside of your body.”

Blaine does the most adult thing he can think of in that moment, which is stick his tongue out at him, and goes to take the hand Sebastian has extended for him to keep his balance. His feet have other ideas, however, and the moment he takes his hand his foot trips on a dip between the rocks.

He stumbles and lands right against Sebastian’s chest and that forward motion knocks them on their asses. Blaine lets out a soft ‘ooph’ as he ends up smack against his roommate in the grass, Sebastian groaning, a soft cough leaving his mouth from getting the wind knocked out of him.

“Sorry.”

“You’re a lot heavier than you seem.”

“You know where my knee is, right?” Blaine points out with a glare.

Sebastian grins at him, hand settling right on the base of his hip. “Oh I’m aware, feel free to move it just a little to the right.”

He groans in disgust but when he tries to get up Sebastian won’t let him, both of his hands resting along his lower back. A short breath gets stuck in his throat, his eyes finding soft green staring back at him. Okay, he _can’t_ think about how well their bodies are lined up, how he nearly fits perfectly between Sebastian’s legs. His long piano fingers pressed into the muscles of his back, teasing at the idea of lower and—

“Let me up.”

“Why did you want to come running with me this morning?”

“Because I make terrible decisions that impact my health.” Blaine comments back, wondering how long they’re going to stay like this. Will people walk by and see them?

“You hate running.”

“I’m beginning to hate _you.”_

Sebastian laughs a little, the vibrations of his body melting easily into Blaine’s. “I can’t see you hating anyone. But just so you know, if you wanted to spend time with me, you didn’t have to do it through cardiac arrest.”

Jesus, he really _is_ transparent. “Well I didn’t think you’d enjoy something like glassblowing.”

The taller scrunches his nose, “You’d be correct in thinking that with all the types of blowing I’d want to do, that isn’t one of them.”

Blaine’s eyes flicker to Sebastian’s mouth before he tells himself to focus, “Next time I’ll pick something with less sweating.”

“Or just pick a different venue to sweat in.” Sebastian points out with an eyebrow waggle.

This time Blaine does manage to roll off of him before standing up in the grass, his roommate quickly following suit.

“Race you back,” He says with a wink and takes off before Blaine can say no.

A groan leaves his mouth as he looks at the sky, his body already hurting with the impending thought of running again.

Blaine is _so_ going to regret this—a thought that often enters his mind when it comes to Sebastian, but takes off running anyways.

\---

It’s been a long Tuesday.

That’s the only way he can think to describe the day Blaine’s been having. Long. It’s late and he’s tired, no, _exhausted._ He didn’t think the day would really unravel like it did but every turn brought something else unpleasant. Blaine considers himself a pretty optimistic person; he knows that there are bad days but that they can be equalized by the smallest of good things. A cup of great coffee, relaxing in the sun, walking to work instead of taking the subway, seeing happy pet owners leave with dogs licking their faces and cats purring.

But not all days are like that, no matter how much he wants them to be.

Today was bad. Today was…terrible.

From the minute he woke up this morning at seven AM (he slept through his alarm so he didn’t go running with Sebastian) to the minute his shift ended at nine PM. He wants nothing more than to head home and crawl into bed, maybe order pizza unless Sebastian has cooked something and shut his brain off until tomorrow morning rolls around and he has to do it all over again.

Blaine sighs, getting his apartment keys out of his jacket. As his fingers close around the cool set of metal, he notices there’s still blood on his scrub bottoms. He pauses on the steps out front, stuck in a brief stare, his other hand tracing his thumb over the stain. He doesn’t feel like washing these. Maybe he can just throw them away.

The front door to the apartment building is pried open and that should have been the first sign the universe was giving him that he should just go to Erica’s place instead. But no, it doesn’t click in his brain until the couple that can’t stop making out in the elevator stop on his floor with him. And walk down the hall to his apartment.

And go instead.

“No.” Blaine mumbles under his breath, moving quickly down the hall. The closer he gets, the louder the thumping of music becomes and _no,_ this really can’t be happening. Not tonight. This is _not_ happening tonight.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly the sight that greets him.

Sebastian is throwing a _huge_ party in their apartment, the complex doors downstairs pried open so that anyone can come in, up to their place, have a drink, or two or three. No. Blaine shakes his head, barely able to move inside the cramped place.

People are everywhere, from wall to wall, all over the furniture, eating things out of their fridge…someone is _throwing up_ in his basil plant. Blaine makes his way out of his kitchen, looking for his roommate. Their apartment isn’t that big, Sebastian can only be in so many places. He just hopes he isn’t in his bedroom.

He trips over two idiots doing a keg stand near the TV and stands on his coffee table, scanning the room for _anyone_ he might know.

“You look like you could use a drink.”

And of course, he finds the only person he never wants to talk to. Blaine turns to see Hunter with a smug look on his face, nursing something questionable in a red cup.

“Where’s Sebastian?”

Hunter shrugs as Blaine jumps down from the coffee table, “He’s around. Last time I saw him he had a guy in his lap.”

He shakes his head, looking towards the kitchen. This is just another one of those moments that just goes to show that no matter how many times he thinks they’ve found common ground, _any_ time they actually feel like they’re friends, Sebastian has to fuck it up every single time.

“Have a drink, relax for once.”

“Don’t tell me what to do in my own apartment.” Blaine snaps, finally seeing Sebastian near the other side of the kitchen.

He moves quickly before he can lose him, grabbing Sebastian’s wrist to stop him from moving down the hall to his bedroom with some random guy.

“What the hell is this?” He asks, his voice barely loud enough over the music.

Sebastian blinks because…isn’t it obvious? “How long has it been since you’ve been to a party?”

“I _mean_ why are you having it in our apartment?”

The guy Sebastian was taking to his bedroom seems to get the hint that this conversation isn’t going to end any time soon and starts wandering off towards the kitchen. He reeks of weed and God—he better not be smoking that in here, he will _murder_ Sebastian.

His roommate still doesn’t understand what his deal is, Blaine can see it in his eyes, the nonchalant tilt to his shoulders. His hands rest on his hips and a _sigh_ tumbles from his mouth because oh, Blaine’s being _dramatic_ again.

“You don’t have work tomorrow.”

What? Blaine shakes his head; what does that have to do with anything? “Yes, I do. But what does that have to do with—”

“That’s not what the white-board says on the fridge.”

Okay, Blaine isn’t sure what angle Sebastian is trying to play here but he’s one-hundred and ten percent certain that it does say he works tomorrow. He double checks that white-board at least twice a day, that’s where they put their schedules so they know who’s in and who’s out, so they don’t overbook anything.

So unless someone magically erased his work schedule, it should say the exact same thing it said this morning: he works tomorrow.

“I don’t care what it says,” Blaine argues, “You didn’t even ask me.”

Sebastian rolls his eyes. “I didn’t realize I needed your permission for every little thing, mom.” 

Blaine doesn’t think that violence has any place in an argument, because really, doesn’t that always make it worse? But he’s about ten seconds away from punching Sebastian across his jaw. He needs to go back to boxing, if nothing else just so he doesn’t end up assaulting his roommate.

This is the icing on the cake, the tiny crack exploding outward. Something inside Blaine just breaks, snaps off, his heart slamming into his ribcage one hundred miles an hour. What feels like glass claws at the back of his throat, making the muscle sore, painful when he swallows. It’s in that moment he realizes that he’s trying not to cry.

One bad thing on top of another, on top of _this_ and Blaine loses his cool. He’s done, he’s so _done—_ “Forget it!” He screams, moving down the hallway to his bedroom.

Hunter comes up behind Sebastian and wraps his arms around his shoulders, humming as his chin rests near his neck for a moment.

“He could have really used that drink.”

Sebastian eyes follow Blaine down the hall but takes the drink Hunter is holding over his shoulder to take a long sip from it.

Of course when Blaine gets to his room, he’s not alone, because two random people are trying to have sex in his bed. Perfect. At least they’re not under the sheets, not that he’s really willing to look at this situation as half-full.

He purposely bangs his door open, startling the couple. The girl nearly tumbles off the bed into the nightstand, holding her hands over her chest to hide her nudity. “Get out!” He snaps, his voice choked and breathing a little choppy.

They quickly gather their clothes and leave, Blaine slamming the door shut behind them.

\---

Blaine doesn’t even realize that the party has quieted down until his bedroom door starts to open very slowly. He hasn’t moved from a spot on the edge of his bed, hands wringing through his curls, pausing every so often to pinch the bridge of his nose. How long has he been sitting here like this? Only minutes? Hours?

“Please just leave me alone.” He mumbles, sitting up a little straighter to see his roommate wander into his bedroom.

“You don’t have work tomorrow. At least, that’s what the white-board says.”

Blaine scoffs because _really?_ Is that what Sebastian is in here for? To rub it in his face that he got his schedule wrong? To prove he was _right_ in having a stupid party?

“I don’t care what the white-board says. It doesn’t matter now, anyways.” He kicks his shoes off but doesn’t get up, his body is a little numb, sore from having it in an immobile position for too long.

Sebastian tilts his head as he watches him, like he’s trying to read a novel in a language he’s not familiar with. “I’ve seen you upset before but this is a bit drastic even for you.”

“Just go back to your party.” Blaine’s gaze flickers to Sebastian’s. Maybe if he pisses him off enough he’ll leave. But that fire he usually sees dancing amongst the green of his eyes, to the point where it almost reminds him of a forest fire, is doused. It’s replaced with something more…calm, collected. He’s…concerned?

“I would but you scared most of the guests away when you yelled at me,” He teases, approaching Blaine slowly, like he’s not quite sure he’s allowed. “Then I asked everyone to leave.”

His hands rest together on his lap as his fingers wring his palm, thumb tracing over his life-line again and again. He wouldn’t be surprised if he accidently created some sort of divot with the repeated action.

 Sebastian playfully taps his knee, “Something happen at work?”

He lets out a slow breath, noticing how it’s shaking towards the end. Blaine almost doesn’t want to tell him, tiny bits of embarrassment licking at his nerve endings. He knows he shouldn’t be ashamed of how he feels but people have told him that maybe he’s too emotional to be working at the vet.

But having compassion isn’t bad, right? Even though it tends to hurt.

Blaine looks up at his roommate and licks his lips, “Someone brought their dog in today. He’d been…hit by a car.” He shakes his head, “It was awful. They were…they were frantic, scared. Crying that they needed a doctor to help them. I stood to go get someone and…they put this Maltese in my arms…”

His hands absentmindedly go to the blood stains on his scrubs, fingers brushing over it.

He shakes his head, chewing on the inside of his cheek so he doesn’t cry but tears are already resting heavily against his eyelids.

“He was wailing,” Blaine whispers and when his eyes meet Sebastian’s, tears fall from his eyelashes. “I’ve never heard a dog make sounds like that. It was _terrible.”_

Sebastian slowly kneels, putting his hands on Blaine’s knees. He squeezes gently before his one hand moves to his arm, stroking, his thumb occasionally brushing over the crook of his elbow.

“And I can’t get the sound out of my head,” A whimper climbs out of his throat, his eyes closing, his hand finding Sebastian’s wrist and squeezing as hard as he can. “There was so much b-blood and I couldn’t. I couldn’t h-help.”

Neither could the vet. By the time the doctor came out, the Maltese was already gone, limp in Blaine’s arms.

His throat hurts from holding back sobs, his shoulders shaking with the effort and force of not allowing his body to do what it needs to. He tries to pull away but Sebastian won’t let him. He leans up from the floor and wraps his arms around him, Blaine’s face falling to the space between his shoulder and neck.

The action alone is enough to punch a hole in Blaine’s chest, sobs breaking free against Sebastian’s body. He feels fingers through his curls as he closes his eyes, his own arms loosely circling the other’s form, fingers grabbing onto his shirt to ground him.

His roommate doesn’t pull away until Blaine is ready, one hand cupping his face and stroking tears off his cheekbone. His cheeks feel hot so he can’t imagine what he looks like, reddish blush messily blotched across his face like spilled ink.

“It’s alright,” Sebastian whispers, seems to sense that Blaine wants to pretend like that didn’t just happen. He takes a curl and tucks it behind his ear, his other hand still on his knee. “Let’s get you out of these, hmm?”

He wants to protest, to tell Sebastian that he’s fine but the words are stuck to the back of his throat. Blaine finally nods and lets his roommate go to the dresser he motions to, watching him get out a pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt. Sebastian gently takes off his scrub shirt and Blaine stands on wobbly knees so that he can take his pants off as well.

He notices that Sebastian’s hands take a little longer to brush over the skin of his hips and stomach and shoulders. Closing his eyes he leans into the touch, the sensations warm, open and inviting in a way he didn’t realize his roommate could be.

“Just throw them away,” Blaine says softly as he sits down in bed, resting back against the headboard.

Sebastian pauses, “I could wash them.”

He’s touched at the offer but, “No.”

Quietly leaving with them, he throws them away in the kitchen trashcan. The apartment is a mess, but, he supposes he shouldn’t be that surprised. Sebastian puts the tea kettle on, trying to figure out if he should just bite the bullet and have this cleaned up before Blaine wakes up for work tomorrow.

“Is he done pouting?” Hunter asks as he rounds the corner, leaning against the doorframe.

Sebastian lets out an even breath out of his nose, “Why are you still here? I know you’re in this apartment a lot but you _do_ have one of your own.”

Hunter sighs, moving into the kitchen to wrap his arms around him from behind as Sebastian gets a mug down from the cabinet. “You ended the party, I was just making sure Blaine wasn’t going to spoil our entire evening of fun tonight.”

He untangles himself from Hunter’s grasp, pushing him away as the tea kettle boils. “That party shouldn’t have happened. He does have work tomorrow, by the way. White-board is wrong.”

A scoff echoes in the kitchen, “So what? Having a little fun would do him some good, maybe help remove the stick from his ass,” He sneers, dragging a hand quickly across the white-board on the fridge and smudging the rest of the days.

Sebastian doesn’t know how to get this message through Hunter’s thick skull, so he tries again, a little more pointed—“I’m not interested in fucking you tonight, Hunter. Go home.” An edge sharp enough to cut is laced along his words, barbed wire.

He doesn’t look at Hunter again, knows he’ll be back anyways, like a dog with a bone. He finishes making Blaine a cup of tea and doesn’t flinch when the front door opens and slams shut, carrying the mug down the hall and into his bedroom.

Blaine looks up from his position in bed, not expecting Sebastian to come back or to have a cup of hot tea in his hands. A soft smile tugs at the edges of his mouth, English Breakfast wafting to his nose and filling up his chest with something warm and comforting.

“Was that Hunter?” He asks, referring to the front door slamming.

Sebastian hums and Blaine takes a sip of tea. “He was just leaving.” He pauses for a moment before, “I’m going to go clean up the apartment.”

Blaine holds the cup of tea in his hands, the ceramic warming the palms of his hands. He should let him go; he can’t imagine what the apartment must look like. He remembers flashes of messes everywhere when he first walked in. Overturned furniture, trash and beer cans, he doesn’t even want to think about if anyone threw up anywhere else other than his basil plant.

And yet…when Sebastian gets to the doorway, Blaine says, “Wait.”

It’s soft but insistent; he doesn’t want to be alone right now.  His skin still tingles from where Sebastian’s hands were, gentle against his cheek, brushing along his hips and shoulders. He wants more. He wants to feel the press of his body heat against his own.

“Stay. Please?”

Sebastian pauses before nodding his head, approaching the bed as Blaine moves over. He props some pillows up against the headboard before sitting and stretching his legs out in front of him. Their bodies mold together seamlessly, Blaine moving to rest against his chest as Sebastian’s arm falls around his shoulders. The cup of tea forgotten on the nightstand, Blaine presses his face into his roommate’s side and closes his eyes.

This is the most put together he’s felt all day.


	4. four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who clicked on this story and is giving it a chance! I appreciate everyone reading and reviewing. Enjoy chapter 4! :)

Blaine wakes up alone, which, he’s not surprised that Sebastian isn’t still there from the night before. He sighs and stretches his limbs, his face pressing into the fabric of the pillow as a soft groan leaves his lips. It still smells like Sebastian; his cologne, his skin. Part of him wishes he was still there, sleeping, so they could wake up together.

He could thank him again for last night, maybe even lean up and press a soft kiss near—

No. Blaine sits up so fast in bed that he nearly gives himself whiplash. As it is, the blood rushes to his head and he feels incredibly dizzy. What? _No._ Why is he…thinking of Sebastian like that? His pain in the ass roommate, someone who occasionally walks around the apartment naked or tries to have sex with Hunter on the couch.

The guy who… has ridiculous parties and rude commentary and…

Oh no.

He totally has a crush on his roommate.

Blaine rolls out of bed and quickly pulls on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, looking for his shoes under his bed. This can’t be happening. After _one_ nice thing in his moment of weakness and he develops a crush? So typical.

Maybe it’ll go away. Right, maybe it’ll just…fade into the background. One nice thing doesn’t cancel out all the aggravating things Sebastian has done to make him feel terrible. He’s sure if he gives it enough time it’ll get better on its own. Like a cold or…flu or something. He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, grabbing his phone and wallet from the nightstand and walks down the hall to the front door.

And pauses because….Sebastian is in the kitchen with only a towel on eating cereal from the box.

Fuck.

“Hey curls.” Sebastian smiles, leaning against the counter.

_Make eye contact with his eyes not his pecs._ “Hey,” He says softly, tries and fails two times to actually look at his face. “Don’t you have work?”

“Going in late.” Sebastian shrugs, motioning the cereal box towards him but Blaine waves off the offer. “How’d you sleep?”

“Good.” He swallows, watching as Sebastian sets the box down in order to grab his coffee.

There’s water dripping from his hair, down his shoulder, tracing the lines of his chest. Goosebumps decorate the skin of his arms, along his sides, he wants to follow them with his fingers, dance his lips across them.

It’s then he realizes Sebastian’s said something to him and he’s missed it.

“What?”

Sebastian smirks, completely aware of what he’s been doing. He licks his lips and cocks his hip a little, nonchalant in a way where it’s totally _not._

“I said, are you feeling better from last night?”

Blaine nods and clears his throat, “Yeah, I uhm. My boss texted me, said I could take the day if I needed to. I’m going to. Obviously.” He rubs the back of his neck.

Sebastian takes a sip from his coffee, “Probably for the best, you never take off.”

“We need the money,” Blaine counters before backing up out of the kitchen. “I’m going to go to Erica’s.”

“I’ll see you tonight at nine-thirty then?” Sebastian calls after him, making him pause.

A crease crinkles between his eyebrows. Nine-thirty…nine-thirty for what? He turns to look at him, a question alight in his eyes.

“For Noah’s party? Can’t be the first one’s there.”

Oh, right. Noah’s party. Is it rude to say he doesn’t know if he wants to go now? That’s not true, he still wants to go. He still _really_ wants to go with Sebastian. But if he’s trying to get over this weird crush that appeared out of nowhere, shouldn’t he be avoiding him? Maybe creating some space for a while?

Unfortunately his desire for creating a nice relationship amongst his neighbors wins out over avoiding Sebastian for a few hours.

“Nine-thirty.” Blaine agrees. “See you then.”

He’s out of there before Sebastian can say anything else…or take his towel off.

\---

Blaine collapses back against the too many pillows on Erica’s bed, some of them tumbling onto the floor. “I don’t understand how this happened.” He mumbles, running a hand over his face.

Erica smacks his leg and he lifts it so she can get a shirt out from underneath his body to put it on over her lime-green bralette. “I know exactly how it happened,” She says, wandering to her dresser. “Sebastian is a master manipulator of emotions. I told you this.”

“You make him sound like some sort of magician.”

“Oh, he is. He magically made you start to give a shit about him.” She hands back, fishing through her jewelry box for a pair of earrings.

He’s glad he came here, it’s nice to see things through Erica’s perspective of Sebastian again. Though he realizes that the only unbiased opinion he can ever have about his roommate is probably from Cooper, which is surprising within itself.

“Something really happened between Sebastian and me.”

She turns around as she puts her earrings in, “Did you guys…” Erica trails off, a slightly disgusted look on her face.

“ _No._ No. It wasn’t…like that. I just…you should have seen him. He was gentle and kind and…I think he might care about me.”

A soft laugh leaves her lips and really? She’s laughing at him? Blaine gives her a look to which she apologizes with her eyes and makes the motion of zipping her mouth closed. “Come on B, Sebastian doesn’t care about anyone but himself. He probably thought that he could get into your pants.”

He wants to insist that isn’t true, that she didn’t _see_ him last night and the way he was acting. She didn’t see the way he spoke to him, how gently he touched him and took off his clothes to replace them with something more comfortable. Sebastian could have taken advantage of him when he was emotionally vulnerable but he hadn’t. Erica didn’t see the way Sebastian held him when he could have refused, the way his fingers ran through his curls and up and down his back.

Blaine gets that she doesn’t like his roommate, that she has a sixth sense about what type of guy he is but he also thinks he’s getting to see a side to him that not many others get to see.

“You like him.”

He looks up at her as she sits down on the bed, the heat of her legs melting into his own through his jeans. Blaine sighs as he shrugs his one shoulder…why was that such a hard concept to contend with?

“I like who I think he is.”

Erica shakes her head and squeezes his knee. There’s a weight in her eyes, a heaviness she hasn’t shared with him, a ‘something more’ that’s informing her decisions.

“What?” He asks her.

She takes a moment, opens her mouth and pauses. “I just don’t want you to get hurt. Sebastian has shown you what his true colors are, don’t forget that.”

Blaine watches her a moment before nodding softly and she kisses his cheek before getting up from the bed. Something tells him that wasn’t what she was going to say.

\---

Sebastian isn’t there when he gets home, which is fine because it’s still early. Noah’s party doesn’t begin for another two hours and they’re going even later than that. Gives him some time to think, to get ready and prepare for whatever this night brings him. He just hopes that tonight isn’t a complete waste of his time. They don’t have to go for long, just a few hours, show their faces, eat some food and come back home.

The only downside to having too much time is that he can’t stop thinking about why he wanted Sebastian there in the first place—to _act_ like he’s interested in him so Noah won’t try to hit on him. Blaine sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. What a complicated state of affairs.

Bringing a guy he sort of likes who may or may not actually care about him to pretend to be interested in him at this party so that he can avoid the advances of a creepy neighbor who’s interested in him.

Blaine blinks. Now he has a headache, maybe he should have just went by himself.

_“Won’t be much of an act, B.”_

And then there’s _that,_ what Sebastian had said in response to just pretending tonight. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Is that a point in the category of ‘he really cares’ or does Sebastian just like the idea of a game, a challenge. Saying it’s not an act means that he _is_ interested in him but…if this was any other guy other than Sebastian, maybe he’d believe him.

Fuck, he needs to stop trying to anticipate what tonight will look like because he’s going to end up talking himself out of it.

When Sebastian isn’t home by ten, he contemplates calling him but…maybe him forgetting is some sort of blessing in disguise, the universe telling him that he shouldn’t go. As soon as Blaine gets up from the couch to go to his bedroom to undress, the front door opens.

“Sorry. Ten minutes.” Sebastian says, zipping past him, already undoing his tie and shirt as he goes into his bedroom and closes the door.

Blaine isn’t quite sure how he does it, but his roommate manages to make it to the front door looking gorgeously pressed and polished without one minute to spare. He’s wearing a pair of black jeans and a maroon t-shirt and his hair is perfectly coiffed to the one side, mouth smelling of mint.

“Wow.” Blaine blurts out, which just makes Sebastian smirk. “Maybe I should change…” He trails off, trying to make his way to his bedroom.

Sebastian tugs his arm, a soft laugh crawling out of his throat. “Come on, don’t be ridiculous, you’re just trying to get out of this.”

The shorter blushes but allows Sebastian lead him out of their apartment and down the hall. He’s not exactly wrong. He chews on his lower lip and nervously works his fingers against the palm of his hand as they wait outside of Noah’s door.

“Never met anyone who was so back and forth about a house party before. Relax, the only person who’s going to be eating you alive is me.”

Sebastian winks at him and Blaine’s jaw is definitely on the floor when Noah opens his apartment door.

“Blaine,” He greets with a smile before his eyes flicker to… “And Sebastian,” He clears his throat, obviously not thrilled he’s here. “So glad you could join.”

Blaine takes a step inside the doorway, the small apartment filled with other neighbors and some people from other floors. Noah’s apartment is set up relatively the same as when Blaine and his ex bought the place, he didn’t choose to move anything around. Blaine had decided that the feng shui was completely off balance and re-worked the living and dining room. They also repainted the walls in shades of blue and green. Noah decided to keep the tan and white, which always reminded Blaine of a hospital.

“Thanks for having us,” Blaine offers a small smile and then realizes, “I uh, I had wine but. I forgot it.”

Sebastian sighs, his hand gently resting on Blaine’s lower back as he leans down to say, “I’ll get it.” before he disappears out the doorway and down the hall again.

Noah’s eyes flicker from Sebastian’s retreating form to Blaine’s hazel eyes, a soft smile lingering on his lips. “Wine is very sweet of you.”

“Doesn’t mean much if you can’t remember it.” He laughs a little, awkwardly sticking his hands in his pockets.

Blaine follows Noah’s lead into the living room, waving at some of the neighbors he knows and shaking hands with those he doesn’t. He’s always liked meeting new people and it’s a great distraction from having to talk with Noah. Eventually they’re at the center of the room and Noah has a wine bar set up, to which he pours Blaine a glass and hands it over.

“Sweet white.” Noah tells him.

His favorite. Blaine doesn’t want to ask how he knew that. “Thank you.” He takes a few slow sips and starts to wonder where Sebastian is. If he didn’t leave the wine out on the counter like he thought he did he’s probably going through their wine selection seeing what they can salvage.

Awkward tension fills the air like a dense fog and he starts to wonder if he should try to slowly sneak away to talk to other neighbors but the question he’s been trying to avoid all day rears its ugly head when Noah touches his arm to get his attention.

“So you and Sebastian, are you…”

“It’s complicated.” Blaine interrupts, and at least that’s an honest answer.

Before he has to go into any more detail, he feels an arm slide around his waist, Sebastian’s warm body pressing into his own as he hands Noah a bottle of red wine.

“Sorry it’s not chilled.” The taller winks before gently taking Blaine’s wrist and tugging him away, towards the food instead.

“Since when did you start labeling all the wine bottles as ‘Blaine’?”

He chuckles; he completely forgot about that. “Well, I figured better safe than sorry if Hunter came over and looked through our selection.”

“I had to leaf through twenty bottles. Another note, why do we have that much wine?”

Blaine scrunches his nose and picks up a small plate, putting a selection of finger foods on it. “All the reds should have been ‘Blaine’ free. Besides, look at it this way: if there’s ever a zombie apocalypse we’ll have enough wine to shut ourselves in.”

“Not if we keep giving them away at parties.” Sebastian mumbles, stealing a cookie off of Blaine’s plate.

He munches on a chocolate covered strawberry, making his way through the crowd of people to find a place for them to stand. “We won’t have to do this again.”

Sebastian laughs, stealing Blaine’s glass of wine for a sip. “Get your own.” He mumbles under his breath but his roommate chooses to ignore him.

“How the tables have turned.  I thought you _wanted_ to do this…neighbor peace treaty and all that.”

“I did…” Blaine nods, setting his plate down on a nearby table. “I do. I just…” He glances through the crowd to find Noah watching him. When their eyes meet, Noah turns his head and begins to talk to another neighbor. “I just don’t feel completely comfortable, that’s all.”

His roommate hands him his drink back, carefully wraps Blaine’s fingers around the glass. “That’s because you’re not drinking enough.” He laughs a little and shakes his head, goes to protest but, “I’m serious. This is a party, you’re supposed to have fun. Don’t worry about Noah. Look at me.” He gently loops his finger underneath Blaine’s chin, drawing his gaze back to his green eyes. “Don’t worry about him.” He grabs an open bottle of wine and adds more to Blaine’s cup…even though he’s pretty sure they are not the same other than they’re both white. “Have a good time. After last night, you deserve it.”

Blaine smiles and shakes his head, rubbing the back of his neck. He really shouldn’t but…something in Sebastian’s eyes, the cool earth green burrowing into his own hazel, a reflecting calm radiating throughout his entire body. It’s amazing how he can have that effect on him; instantaneous, like a trance. But it’s not just something biological, Blaine realizes that he _trusts_ Sebastian, that he’s started to earn that small piece of him.

So he leans into Sebastian’s side as the taller wraps an arm around him and takes another sip from his wine glass.

\---

Blaine is definitely capable of making stupid mistakes, the problem is he can’t quite tell if this decision is one of those or not yet. He agrees to have a good time, he keeps drinking wine, mingling with other house guests, laughing and leaning into Sebastian’s side as he gets to know people from different floors. He’s always been quite fond of the building and as he talks and swaps numbers with others he remembers why. The building itself has a younger population, mostly everyone around the same age of twenty six to thirty except for a few outliers in their seventies. They all have the same desired concept of working a dead-end job until they can make their way through school or until something better comes along, most trying to work up to owning their own businesses.

It was a fresh environment to be a part of and it was nice to know that he was going to end up leaving with numbers in his back pocket and opportunities to grow himself: cooking classes and yoga instructors, people wanting to spend time with him, get to know him and discover things together. He almost forgot what that was like, having a big group of friends. Blaine used to have _so_ many friends back in high school and college; his mom always told him that he was just like Cooper. People were attracted to his infectious smile and positive demeanor, his willingness to give and give and _give._

When Blaine got a job it was a lot harder to keep a social schedule, he found out that many of his ‘friends’ bailed on him when he couldn’t meet their demands to hang out. He wasn’t used to many people sticking by him, except Erica and lately…

He glances up at Sebastian as he hands him another drink, taking a sip and scrunching his nose.

“That’s stronger.”

“It’s a honey whiskey. The more you drink, the more you’ll enjoy it.”

Blaine hums and tries another sip. Nope, not there yet. “Did you mix it with anything?”

Sebastian smiles at him and sips something from his own glass. “Now where’s the fun in that?”

He’s not a big drinker as it is but he’s feeling tipsy from the wine so the regular caution bells that are usually going off about now sound so far away, buried in cotton or at the bottom of the ocean.

Not that he’s surprised, but Noah is playing jazz, fast and upbeat music that has everyone in the living room swaying from side to side. Some of the neighbors are dancing; Blaine knows that the couple that live in 1C own a dance hall that post events in the lobby. They seem to be teaching some others how to do the jitterbug, or trying to based on the alcohol people have had.

Blaine chuckles against the rim of his cup, his body moving to the piano and occasional saxophone. Sebastian’s hand settles on his waist, head tilting towards a more open space. “I don’t know if you know this but your hips just asked me to dance.”

He can’t help but laugh outright, his hand coming up to cover his mouth. Ridiculous but in a way that’s almost endearing?—sometimes Sebastian says things like that _just_ to make him laugh.

Setting his cup down, Blaine lets Sebastian lead and they stop between a few other couples who are closely linked, swaying to the music, enjoying one another’s company. A breath catches in his throat when Sebastian wraps his arm around him, tugging him against his chest, his other hand resting along his hip. He has to wonder—is all of this really for show? Is Sebastian just doing this because he asked him to?

“Do you even know how to do the jitterbug?” Blaine asks, bright hazel eyes gazing up at him. His face is so close, he could count the freckles on his cheekbones.

“No, isn’t that the one where I flip you over my arm?” Sebastian laughs, his entire body vibrating against his own.

Blaine squeezes Sebastian’s arms before slipping his arms around his back, “God, don’t try that. I’ll end up in the coffee table.”

His arm slides lower, brushing against the top of Blaine’s ass as Sebastian lips brush along his ear, “Wouldn’t dare.”

He’s not sure how long they sway together, body against body, practically breathing the same air, but Blaine is almost certain he’s the one that closes the smallest of gaps between them. He kisses him, a hand snaking behind Sebastian’s neck to steady himself, standing up on his toes so he can reach.

The kiss ends gradually, though Blaine only pulls back because his lungs are craving air. He doesn’t want to pull away; the taste of Sebastian’s mouth is intoxicating, sweet like honey whiskey. He memorizes the soft tug of his lips, his tongue rolling across his own, the quiet whines sneaking out from his throat.

Sebastian smiles down at him, his expression softer somehow as he cups Blaine’s cheek and runs his thumb over his cheekbone. He steals another brief kiss before Blaine loses his balance, a squeaking noise leaving his mouth as he grips onto his roommate. The taller chuckles and holds him upright, a firm hand pressing against his back.

“I got you.”

“I’m usually much steadier when kissing.” Blaine huffs out, allowing Sebastian to set him down on the arm of the couch.

“Yeah, I’ll take the blame for that one,” Sebastian smiles, his hand squeezing his arm. “I’ll get you some water.”

Blaine looks up at him and blinks, his vision tunneling a little. His body is still swaying to the music even though he’s offbeat, he can’t keep still. He grins up at him, eyes glassy, feels hot under his collar with curls wild and unruly against his forehead.

“You’re so _pretty.”_ He blurts out because how didn’t he notice this before? Wait. “Did I say that out loud.”

Sebastian shakes his head, pressing his thumb to his lower lip. “One can only hope you remember this moment when you’re sober.” Blaine kisses his thumb because that seems like the right thing to do. “Stay here, I’ll be back.”

Blaine watches him go, a soft hum leaving his lips as he settles back against the couch. Someone settles next to him, a gentle hand on his knee. The dancing people have faded into the dining room, something about getting more dessert before it all disappears.

He is more or less alone.

Blaine can feel his body lean into the touch against his better judgement because he thinks it’s Sebastian but…his eyes meet someone else’s. He frowns, confused, his brain on a ten second delay with what’s going on around him.

“Finally. I didn’t think I’d be able to be alone with you all night,” Noah smiles, “I wanted to talk.”

Oh. He is in no condition to actually talk. “I’m…waiting for Sebastian.”

“I didn’t think you were going to bring him tonight,” Noah’s hand is still on his knee. Blaine doesn’t like it, he wants to move but he can’t get the motion lined up with his limbs. “Was disappointed, if I’m being honest.”

He shakes his head, looking over his shoulder for his roommate. “I’m sorry, I just…”

“Maybe we could go out some time,” Noah moves closer, his hand inching in on his upper thigh. “Just the two of us…”

A harsh breath leaves his lungs because _no,_ he doesn’t want anything like that. He _really_ doesn’t want Noah any closer even though his lips make a beeline for his neck but the words ‘stop’ and ‘no’ get caught in his throat, clawing to get out. For whatever reason he’s paralyzed and squeezes his eyes shut—

But Noah’s mouth never connects with his skin because Sebastian yanks him off by pulling him at his shoulder, hard enough that he tumbles onto the floor.

“Get the fuck off him.” He snaps, setting the water down on the coffee table. Sebastian moves to the other side of the couch and wraps an arm around Blaine’s waist, helping him up. “What, you’re so pathetic you can’t tell him how you feel sober?”

Noah scrambles to his feet, his face a bright red. “I wasn’t—”

“Yes, you were.” Sebastian’s voice is taut, dangerous, dripping with smoldered embers. “If I ever hear or see you bother him again I’ll do more than knock you on the floor. Understand?”

Blaine leans into Sebastian’s side, his feet feel like jello molds, wobbly even when he tries to concentrate on putting one in front of the other. He feels comforted in the fact that his roommate is keeping him upright, a steady hand against his waist.

Noah nods his head but they don’t wait for a reply from him, Sebastian moving through the sea of neighbors out of his apartment.

“Can’t believe we wasted a perfectly good red wine on that asshole.”

He digs out their keys and shifts Blaine a little in order to get the door open, maneuvering them inside and turning the light on with his elbow. Blaine wants to thank him but he’s not sure for what—coming back? For pulling Noah off of him? For telling him to leave him alone?

He wants to say something, _anything,_ but instead he says nothing and presses a sloppy kiss to Sebastian’s mouth. It’s ridiculously off-kilter and he nearly knocks his roommate over. Surprisingly they don’t end up on the floor, but the momentum of the kiss was enough to push Sebastian against the front door, effectively closing it.

A soft grunt leaves the other’s mouth as he holds Blaine in place and he greedily wraps his arms around Sebastian’s shoulders to pull him closer. They stumble forward, a moan leaving Blaine’s mouth as his roommate’s hands travel up and under his shirt to feel the skin of his back. He’s not sure where they’re headed, maybe a bedroom? Is that where he wants to end up?

Blaine pulls back a moment to breathe, his fingers tugging the front of Sebastian’s shirt. He blinks, feels dizzy, the room spinning around him.

“Can you tell the room to chill out for a sec? I’m trying to make out with you.”

Sebastian laughing is the last thing he hears before he blacks out on the living room floor.


	5. five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I have a tumblr, blainesebastian, feel free to stop by and say hello. Thanks to everyone who's left a review so far. Hope you enjoy!

Blaine squints when he feels something tickling his nose, waving it off and turning his head. It doesn’t stop though, it only seems to get worse and when he opens his eyes (which is the worst decision ever) he nearly groans as he blinds himself. Sunlight. Sunlight is coming in through the blinds and hitting him in the face like a truck.

“Fuck.” He mumbles, pushing his face into…wait, that’s not his pillow.

He sits up a little and wow, he’s stiff. His hand moves to his lower back and hips, a shooting pain working its way up his spine as he pulls himself upright, his other hand pinching the bridge of his nose. Yep, okay. He’s glad he’s certain every part of his body hurts. At least there’s consistency.

When his eyes don’t feel like they’re about to melt clean out of his sockets, he blinks before looking around the room he’s in. The living room?

Correction: the living room floor.

“Have I been here all night?” He asks, the question mostly to himself and partly to the universe but Sebastian is the one who replies.

“Yep. I tried to pick you up and put you on the couch a few times but you were very insistent in staying on the floor.”

Blaine turns too fast and nearly throws up, putting his hand over his mouth and squeezing his eyes shut. After giving himself a few moments, he looks behind him to see Sebastian moving around in the kitchen. And…he’s making breakfast?

Bacon and eggs from the smell of it. God; he scrunches his nose as his stomach churns. He can’t possibly eat that, can he?

“I slept on the couch, wasn’t going to let that real-estate go to waste.” He pours eggs out onto a plate from a frying pan and carries two plates into the living room to set them on the coffee table.

“You didn’t want to join me on the floor?” Blaine motions to the spot beside him, sees that Sebastian at least gave him a pillow and covered him with a blanket.

He smirks, “Oh no, that was your spot of shame all to yourself.”

Blush blotches its way onto the back of his neck, traveling to his cheeks. God, how embarrassing. He doesn’t remember the last time he got this drunk. In college, maybe? High school? He doesn’t even drink that often, not like that…he apparently does not handle alcohol well anyways. The humiliation might not get the chance to kill him, however, not with this headache pounding behind his temples.

“Come on, you should eat something.” Sebastian says and pulls back the blanket on his legs. He offers him his hand and Blaine gratefully takes it, using it as leverage to get him off the floor and to keep his balance once he’s standing.

“Ouch.” Blaine mumbles in general about his overall being.

“Yeah.” Sebastian smiles, helping him sit on the couch. “You know you have work today?”

He shakes his head, putting his face in his hand. “I think I’d rather die.”

“That’s the spirit.” Sebastian picks up a plate and sets it on his lap, grabbing his own. “Eat. You’ll feel a lot better, trust me.”

“Didn’t I do that last night? I ended up on the floor.” Blaine says with a crooked smile, teasing. He did have a good time, least as much as he can remember anyways.

He picks up a piece of bacon and takes a deep breath before nibbling. Once he’s sure that’s going to stay down he begins to eat in earnest and damn, Sebastian definitely knows how to make a good breakfast.

“I have to get going,” Sebastian stands, taking his plate with him. “But glad to see you didn’t die, Anderson.”

Blaine quickly grabs his wrist before he can go, looking up at him as Sebastian turns to face him. His words die in his throat, imprinted on his trachea, tries to get them to move out his mouth but…he’s lost at the light hitting his roommate just right. How beautiful those freckles still are, the soft green forest of his eyes.

“Thank you.” He says softly, running his thumb over his wrist.

Sebastian nods but says nothing and he gives him a soft tug on his arm. When he leans down Blaine sits up a little straighter, their lips meeting for a brief kiss somewhere in the middle.

The taller smirks as he pulls away, “Brush your teeth,” He teases and gently pats his cheek, moving out of the living room and down the hall to his bedroom.

Blaine smiles and settles into the couch to finish his breakfast.

This crush theory has really taken a turn.

\---

It’s easy to say that Blaine’s distracted at work. Honestly, though, he usually is because he works at the desk where he checks patients in and out and says hello to any cat, dog or sometimes turtle or ferret that will let him. But that’s at least part his job, it’s not usually about his roommate. Or his mouth.

He sighs and types a dog’s name into their record system to bring up her file before adding up today’s payments for their checkup. The only other time he can think of when he was distracted by Sebastian at work was the night he locked him out of the apartment and he had to sleep in the hallway. He was fuming throughout the day about it.

This a little different. Blaine can’t stop thinking about the kiss they shared, even the one at Noah’s which is a little fuzzy compared to the one this morning. His lips slow and deliberate, the gentle warmth and press of Sebastian’s body against his own, his fingers stroking the underside of his jaw, his thumb brushing over his lower lip and—

“Excuse me?”

Blaine body jerks at the unexpected interruption, his knee slamming into the edge of the desk. He groans and looks up at the woman with her dog barking at him.

“My receipt, please?”

He clears his throat and rubs his knee with his hand while his other hands her the slip of paper, “Have a nice day.”

He’s let this crush take the driver’s seat of his brain…he can’t concentrate. God, who is he kidding—Blaine runs a hand over his face; this is _so_ much more than just a little crush on his roommate. If they’re going to keep kissing like that there’s no way he can keep referring to it as a crush.

A sigh leaves his lips as he looks at the time, finally his hour break is up, and he clocks out on the computer before making his way towards the back. He has no more fifteen minute paid breaks thanks to his hangover, so he’s going to have to use this hour to completely recharge to make it to eleven o’clock. Why does he have to work at a vet that has emergency hours?

Don’t get him wrong, he loves working there. It’d just be…nicer if he felt more put together. At least Sebastian was right, eating breakfast really did help.

He smiles and waves to Alyssa, one of their vets as he heads to the backroom where animals awaiting overnight surgeries are kept. Blaine knows that most of them are scared, lonely, craving human attention that’s not just nurses drawing blood or giving medication. Most of the time on his break he ends up back here, visiting cats and dogs who want pet and talked to. He goes from cage to cage, occasionally replacing the water if it looks like he needs to and stops at one of the last cages near the back door.

“You’re new.” He says, mostly to himself. A grey Pitbull puppy, though big for her age, approaches him and stands on her hind legs, whining, obviously wanting affection. Blaine smiles and reaches through the cage to scratch under her chin while he looks at the tag on the door.

“Abandoned at vet…owner said she was aggressive.” Then frowns as he shakes his head. “You’re not aggressive, are you?” Though he already knows the answer to that, just by petting her. A flutter of sympathy waves over him as he pets her ears, reaching more of his arm in so he can scratch fingers down her back.

So many animals abandoned at the vet were just based off of looks and nothing else. When were people going to get that aggressive animals were only aggressive because of how people treated them? He pulls his arm out and grabs a leash by the door, opening the cage.

“Want to take a walk?”

The grey Pitbull, named Sundae according to the tag, barks enthusiastically in response. He grins and gently pulls her by her collar to hook the leash, opening up the back door to walk outside with her. Blaine breathes in the cool afternoon air, a yawn slipping from his mouth as he walks Sundae around the backyard.

She’s a perfect walking companion too, surprising for how young she is. She doesn’t pull the leash and listens when he tells her to stop or sit, walks right by his legs even when another dog approaches or a car. It makes him incredibly sad to think someone gave her up, tagged her as aggressive, but more likely because they just didn’t want to keep her.

He tugs her towards the front of the building where a picnic table is…and is surprised to see Sebastian walking towards him from the parking lot holding two cups of coffee and a white paper bag. They meet at the table, the wide smile unable to be wiped from Blaine’s face.

“Hi, what are you doing here?” He asks, straddling the seat of the bench.

Sundae greets Sebastian by bowing, wagging her tail. Sebastian chuckles and sets the coffee down, kneeling in front of her. “And who’s this?” He asks, allowing her to smell his hand first before petting her chest and her belly when she rolls over. “She’s a sweetheart.”

“Her name is Sundae, abandoned at the vet.” Blaine tells him, watching them together. Though, at least her owners cared enough to drop her off somewhere instead of abandoning her on the street.

Sebastian reaches inside the paper bag and rips off what looks like a piece of a croissant. He shakes his head as Sundae rolls over for the treat, “You know, you really shouldn’t feed her that.”

Sebastian grins up at him, rubbing Sundae’s belly. “Shh.”

He chuckles, reaching for the cup of coffee with his name on it before Sebastian joins him on the bench. “Don’t get too attached.” Blaine teases, taking a slow sip of coffee. Just how he likes it, the warm liquid comforting his frayed nerves thanks to the hangover. “You know we can’t have pets in the apartment.”

“I’m sure that could be arranged.” Sebastian winks, pulling out the rest of the croissant from the bag along with a few napkins.

Blaine wraps the leash around his thigh, though he’s not exactly sure why he’s concerned, Sundae lays down in the grass next to them and watches the traffic go by. He smiles softly as he grabs a chunk of the croissant and takes a bite out of it.

“Landlord would definitely catch us.”

Sebastian takes a sip of his own coffee and scoffs, “That woman has a cat.”

Blaine blinks, “Wait, really?”

“For a few months now,” He tells him, reaching down to pet Sundae between her ears. “The couple in 2D has a Maltese Poodle. What are those things called?”

“Maltipoo.” Blaine finishes his part of the croissant, Sebastian passing him some of his own. “How do you know that?”

A smirk makes its way onto Sebastian’s lips, “Let’s just say while Noah keeps tabs on you, I keep tabs on pets around the apartment.” He shrugs, “I used to have a dog when I was younger, I have a soft spot what can I say.”

Blaine shudders as a shiver courses up his spine at the mention of their neighbor, “Don’t remind me.” Though Sebastian having a tender spot for animals is really…cute? Something to tease him about later for sure.

“You know you should really talk to someone about him. I’m not just talking about me or Erica, I mean like the landlord. Or the police.”

He chews on his lower lip, avoiding Sebastian’s gaze by pretending that his coffee cup is the most interesting thing he’s never seen. Blaine can’t exactly say that Noah is harmless anymore, can he? Though he _was_ drunk when he started hitting on him, making advances, can he really depend on memory? Was it as bad as he recalls? Not that being drunk is some sort of excuse for Noah’s behavior, he just…he doesn’t want to be a burden. And he doesn’t want to start all kinds of drama for the apartment building.

“I don’t know, Seb.” He says quietly, finally looking up at him.

Sebastian puts his hand on his knee and squeezes, “You either need to do it or I will.”

He gets that he’s worried about him and that bubbles something warm and comforting in the bottom of his stomach, blooming upward, flowers against his ribcage. He settles a hand on top of Sebastian’s, his thumb running over his knuckles a few times before pulling back.

“Thanks,” He says after a moment, motioning to the coffee. “I really needed this.”

Sebastian smiles against the rip of his coffee cup, “I figured you did when you tried to shower in the fridge this morning.”

Blaine feels a dark blush flush to his cheeks and winces, shaking his head. God. “I wasn’t one hundred percent even after breakfast.”

“Apparently.” Sebastian grins, finishing his cup of coffee in a few more sips.

Blaine knows that he also came over on his lunch break and he’s touched that he’s willing to spend what little time he has with him at work, on a bench with a gentle Pitbull. He waits for him to bring up more about that night, about those _kisses._ Was Sebastian thinking about them as often as he was? Is that why he came here on his lunch break?

He wants to ask…needs to if Sebastian isn’t going to bring it up himself, right? He told Erica that something happened between them, that it felt _different_ than what she was trying to make it out to be. That _he_ was different.

“I want to talk to you about something.” Blaine says after a moment, moving a little closer on the bench until their knees bump.

“We can’t order food again tonight, we’ve got no leftover space.” Sebastian warns and he blinks because, oh. Wait. He wanted to order subs tonight and—he shakes his head. Not the point.

“No, I uh. I was just…” He looks down at his hands, his fingers rubbing over his knuckles. “That kiss at Noah’s, I get, but that one this morning couldn’t have been just for show.” He hates how expectant he sounds, hopes Sebastian doesn’t somehow use it against him; that this was just some cruel and unusual joke between him and Hunter.

He hates that he feels like it might have been.

“That wasn’t for show,” Sebastian confirms, “That’s because I wanted to kiss you. And I should be able to do that without Noah the stalker breathing down my neck.”

So…so what does this _mean?_ He doesn’t want to ask too many questions and push Sebastian into a box or worse, turn him off to the idea of actually being something _more_ than roommates. He knows what Sebastian is like, for the most part, and having a long-term relationship or anything serious does not seem high on his list of priorities.

But Blaine has never been very good with ‘go with the flow’, he likes the comforting feeling of a backbone, a plan, a foreseeable future. Time with his ex had always been unsure, open, taking one day at a time. And see how that turned out? So call him a little paranoid but he just doesn’t want to feel like he’s putting time and effort into something that the bottom is going to unexpectedly fall out from under his feet.

This is probably such a bad idea, what happens if something goes wrong and he has to find another roommate?

“You’re doing that thing where you’re thinking too much.” Sebastian interrupts him.

Blaine shakes his head and laughs softly, blushing at being caught. “I just… I’m serious about liking you.”

The taller leans a little closer, “And here I thought you were going to tell me we _did_ have room for takeout at home.”

“We do!” He laughs, pushing on his chest a little. Sebastian doesn’t let him get too far, wrapping an arm around his waist to pull him closer.

“You think I bring coffee for just anyone?”

Sebastian’s mouth is incredibly close to his own, his breath brushing along his jawline. He smells sweet, like caramel or cinnamon. “I dunno, I’d have to ask Hunter.”

“Cheeky.” He hooks a finger under his chin and just before their mouths meet in a soft kiss—

Blaine’s phone starts buzzing in his pocket, effectively breaking the fizzling heat between them. He groans and his forehead falls to his shoulder a moment before he pulls his cell out, checking the caller ID. Of course…it’s Erica.

“I should get this.” He mumbles under his breath, Sebastian humming as he glances at the screen. His hour is almost up, he imagines his roommate will want to get going back to the law firm soon too.

“Do you always run when she calls?”

Getting up from the bench, Blaine grabs ahold of Sundae’s leash, the pup instantly up and out of the grass. She jumps up the side of his leg for pets but he can’t hold onto her leash and his phone at the same time. He’s also trying to figure out what kind of angle Sebastian coming from asking something like that.

He doesn’t seem…annoyed or angry but there’s a reason he’s asking that Blaine can’t quite put his finger on.

“She’s my best friend.” He replies in way of an answer. Of course he’s going to pick up when she calls…except for right now because he’s disoriented about this question. “You’ve let Hunter interrupt any time of the day, mostly dinners I might add.”

“Hunter isn’t my friend, he’s just someone I sleep with.” He gathers the trash to throw away in a nearby trashcan.

“I believe that makes it worse not better.”

Sebastian steps into the parking lot, motioning to the phone. “I’d pick that up before it stops ringing. Who knows what national emergency you might be missing.”

Blaine stares at him a long moment before something clicks into a place, a laugh leaving his mouth, “Jealousy isn’t really working for you, Seb.”

Now it’s his turn to laugh as he gets his car keys out of his pocket. “Oh, _I’m_ jealous? Of what? Wonder bras and holding hands with you as you skip down the street after ice cream? That’s funny. She’s the one jealous of me.”

Blaine snorts, “Of you stealing my attention? Uh huh.” He gently tugs on Sundae’s leash back the way they came. “Sure she is, jelly.” He sticks his tongue out, beginning their slow walk back.

“You’re lucky smug looks so good on you, Anderson!” Sebastian calls after him.

Blaine can’t help but laugh, pushing the ‘call back’ button on his phone.

\---

“We talked.”

Erica looks over her shoulder as she grabs the remote, moving towards the bed Blaine is on. She’s careful not to sit on the box of cheesy breadsticks or pizza as she settles against the headboard.

“What, you and the pizza guy?”

Blaine laughs softly and picks up a breadstick. “No. Sebastian and I.”

“Don’t give me that face,” She turns to look at him, putting the remote aside and their quest to find a halfway decent movie on Netflix on hold. “Pizza guy was very hot.”

He scrunches his nose, “You’re making it sound like the beginning of some sort of porno.”

She takes her beer off the nightstand and smiles against the top of the bottle. “How old is the porn you’re watching?”

“I’m just trying to tell you that Sebastian and I talked and I think we’re finally on the same page.”

Erica picks apart the words he uses, chewing on her lower lip. “Let me guess…you said how you felt and then he made a joke?”

Blaine frowns because no…that’s. That’s not how it went, exactly. Sebastian isn’t one to have heartfelt and deep conversations right off the bat and yeah, he’s still getting to know him but he understands enough of what _not_ to do. He said he was serious about liking him and Sebastian replied that he doesn’t buy coffee just for anyone—that, in turn, is the _same_ response.

But he has a feeling that Erica won’t get that? Why is she so against giving Sebastian a chance?

“I trust him,” Blaine says after a moment, wiping his hands on a napkin. “I want to be willing to try.”

Erica puts her hands up in mock arrest, giving up, “Okay. Okay. Fine, I get it. You have to try. I just don’t want to see you get hurt. Sometimes you put your trust in the wrong people, Blaine.”

She’s talking about his ex, he knows she is. And he gets the sentiment, he really does. He knows she’s just looking out for him, that they do that for one another.

But Blaine hates that she seems to be speaking to the tiniest part in the back of his mind, almost silenced, that worries she’s right: that he might be making a huge mistake.


	6. six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is rated NC-17 for this chapter! Chapter 6 is a long one, please enjoy. Comments are always welcome!

The more time he spends with Sebastian, the less worried he is that he’s making some sort of mistake and the best part is? He’s hanging out with his roommate as he’s always done, doing the most mundane things. Going grocery shopping or making dinner together, watching the occasional movie. They’re keeping the exact same routine except…everything they do feels a little different, emotionally charged.

There’s been a shift in how they respond to one another; it’s different yet feels more natural than Blaine would like to admit.

“Okay we’re done watching this.” Blaine insists, hurriedly reaching for the remote.

Sebastian, of course, keeps it out of his grip. “Blaine Anderson, are you scared?” He teases, the horror movie continuing to play in the background.

The shorter huffs as he leans over Sebastian’s lap, fingers still outstretched towards the remote. “No…” A loud bang in the movie catches him off guard and he squeaks, a blush covering his neck as his heart pounds in his ribcage, “Okay, _yes._ Give me that!”

He laughs a little and ruffles Blaine’s curls, “We watched your completely _boring_ and predictable rom-com, now it’s my turn.”

He pouts, “That’s not fair. You know I don’t like scary movies with ghosts and stuff.”

“And you know that rom-coms make me want to throw up.” He taps the tip of Blaine’s nose. “Tough it out, sweetheart.”

Blaine holds a pillow to his chest as he continues to use Sebastian as a couch cushion, jerking a little as something else pops out on the screen. “You know if we finish this you’re going to have to sleep with me tonight.”

Sebastian gasps, his hand going to his chest in mock surprise. “Oh no, we wouldn’t want that. Better stop this movie right now.”

Blaine smirks and shakes his head, nudging him with his elbow. “I think you picked this on purpose.” He mumbles.

He runs his fingers through the other’s curls, tracing down to massage the muscles of his neck. “I would do no such thing.”

Why did all horror movies have to include a period of time where it was completely dark and things _jumped out_ at the screen? Blaine chewed on his lower lip, jerking a little as Sebastian’s hand rested on the side of his hip.

He could feel him chuckle through the vibrations in his body. “Easy.”

“How are you not completely unnerved by this?”

“Because it’s not real.” He smiles down at him, glancing up at the screen every so often.

Of course, what was a horror movie without a convenient thunderstorm—and Blaine slowly sat up on the couch as thunder boomed in the distance and the lights flickered in their apartment.

“That’s real.” He points out with a pout, looking around the living room like something was lurking behind shadows. He hates this, this is why movies about vampires or werewolves or even better, rom-coms, were much more enjoyable to watch. He didn’t feel threatened in his own apartment!

“Weather channel has been calling for a storm all day.” Sebastian points out.

“Oh and since when are they right?” Blaine scoffs, frowning at lightening flashing through their windows.

Sebastian shakes his head and suddenly yanks Blaine by his hips to straddle his lap. He allows his roommate to manhandle him, dropping the pillow onto the floor so that he can steady himself by grabbing onto Sebastian’s shoulders.

“What are you doing?”

“You clearly need a distraction.”

Blaine doesn’t like having his back facing the television. He can hear everything that’s going on, which includes blood-curdling screams and suspenseful music. It’s putting him on edge even more so than before. His fingers curl into the other’s shoulders.

“This isn’t helping.”

Sebastian grins, tugging him closer, his hips moving up a little to meet him in the middle. A sharp breath leaves Blaine’s lips, his nose bumping the other’s. “I haven’t started yet.”

Blaine tries not to ruin this by overthinking it; so many things to ask and know before their lips touch. What does this mean? What does this make them? Is it something or nothing at all?

Sebastian presses his fingers to Blaine’s lips, snapping his attention back like a rubber band. “Stop thinking.” He whispers.

He can’t help but smile and nods his head, leaning down to brush their lips together before kissing him. He leans into it, he stops thinking, their mouths moving seamlessly against one another’s. He absorbs all the small sounds that leave Sebastian’s throat and the background noises of the movie behind them fade as if the volume has been turned down.

The only thing he hears is the gentle movement of their lips and Sebastian’s breathing. Blaine’s hips shift down because at this point he’s done trying to control how his body feels about the guy underneath him. Sebastian’s hands squeeze his hips, forcing him down again, this time more pointed.

Blaine moans and spreads his legs up a little wider, his eyes opening and meeting the other’s as their cocks press together. Their bodies still, both of them breathing a little heavy. Blaine feels dizzy as Sebastian nips at his lower lip with his teeth.

“Distracted enough?” He whispers.

He smiles and shakes his head ‘no’. That’s all Sebastian needs before he’s picking him up, haphazardly turning the TV off and walking to Blaine’s bedroom in the dark. His back hits the cushion of his bed and within seconds his hands are greedily pulling Sebastian closer, between his legs, kissing him again with a little more force.

Their tongues explore one another’s mouths, Blaine inching his hands between their bodies to undo Sebastian’s jeans. He yanks at the material, tearing the zipper down.

“Careful, you break it, you buy it.” Sebastian smirks, moving to kiss along Blaine’s jawline before finding his neck. His back arches as Sebastian’s tongue runs over his pulse point, his hands working quickly to tug down his jeans and boxer briefs.

Blaine’s sweatpants are easily removed and as soon as the fabric is gone between their bodies, he pulls Sebastian down again, hissing as their cocks touch skin to skin. They roll their hips together, Sebastian’s mouth going for his neck again, Blaine’s fingers digging into his back. There’s just enough friction that it’s almost dizzying, pleasure heating his entire body. He groans, turning his head so that they kiss again.

Their movements are ragged and erratic, trying to go just fast enough so that they tumble over the edge. Blaine’s not close, not yet, but he’s enjoying the inevitable build up. He’s not frustrated but he knows exactly what to do when that time comes.

Sebastian moans into his mouth, his hips swaying almost in a circular motion, his cock unbelievably hard against Blaine’s. He can feel his pre-cum drip onto his thighs and he opens his legs wider so he can wrap them around Sebastian’s waist, grind up, give himself an angle to work with.

He’s not sure how long they stay like this, in a constant state of movement, but a soft whine leaves Blaine’s lips as a knot tightens in his belly. He wants to cum, _needs_ it—but there’s just not _enough—_

“I know.” Sebastian teases, presses down.

“Fuck.” Blaine pants, his hands dragging down Sebastian’s shoulders to grab at his ass. His eyes squeeze shut; he doesn’t want to be the first to cave, there’s a twisted feeling of euphoria that comes from dragging this out.

Before he can move, Sebastian reaches down between them, grabbing both of their cocks in his fist. He just barely wraps his long fingers around but it’s just enough, just what they need. He strokes them together, pausing every so often to play with Blaine’s balls. Pleasure shoots through Blaine’s veins, red-hot and aching.

“I’m—” He tries to warn Sebastian but it gets stuck under his tongue. Doesn’t really matter anyways because they’re so close together that when Blaine cums he’s not far behind him.

His back arches off the bed as Sebastian squeezes their cocks, dragging out every last second. He pants as he collapses on the mattress, a mess of jelly limbs and sticky cum. He runs a hand over his face, barely feels when Sebastian gets up and kisses down his thighs, grabbing tissues to clean them both up.

Blaine hums, completely content, only moves so that they can crawl under the blankets. Sebastian instantly pulls him closer, wrapping his arm around him so he can tug him into his chest. He sighs, nose brushing along his neck, pressing a kiss to his collarbone.

And it’s quiet.

“You’re fucking heavy by the way.” Sebastian teases after a moment, his lips brushing over Blaine’s hairline.

“I hope that ghost we saw in that movie yanks you out of bed first as the human sacrifice.” Blaine mumbles against the pillow, making Sebastian chuckle.

It’s the last thing he hears before falling asleep.

\---

Blaine turns on his stomach in his sleep when he feels a weight on his bed. A weird dream in which it’s roommate starts to fill his head; Sebastian lying down next to him, Sebastian nuzzling closer, Sebastian blanketing himself over his back, the warm weight of his body pressing into his own, Sebastian licking his ear—

Wait.

He jerks up in bed, alarmed, someone chuckling from the doorframe as a dog…a _dog_ gets very excited at seeing him awake and starts licking his face in earnest. When he begins to wake up and focus his vision, he sees that it’s not just any dog but—

“Sundae.” He smiles and turns, sitting up in bed and against the headboard. Sundae barks and bows on the bed, letting Blaine pet her head and scratch up her spine. “What are you doing here?”

Sebastian moves from the doorframe to sit on the edge of his bed. “I figured you wouldn’t mind being woken up this way.”

Sundae turns and lies on her back, relaying to Blaine that she’d like to be pet on her belly now. Did Sebastian really leave bed and come back with a _dog?_ He didn’t even feel him pull away.

“Definitely better than the time Cooper rolled me out of bed and onto a plate of whipped cream,” He waves Sebastian’s look off, “Don’t ask.”

Blaine smiles and leans down to kiss her belly and it takes a minute for him to connect the dots, for him to realize that if Sundae is here…with Sebastian, then that means…

He looks up at his roommate and Sebastian smiles, giving a little nod to what he’s thinking.

“She’s ours?”

Sebastian pets her side, chuckling as Sundae leans her head up and starts nibbling on his fingers, her adult teeth still poking through. “She’s ours.”

Blaine moves quickly towards Sebastian and hugs him around his neck, the force of his body almost making them tumble off the bed. The taller chuckles and squeezes him around his waist, Blaine’s legs still wrapped up in sheets. Sundae barks at the both of them, clearly offended that she’s not being petted by either of her owners. Sebastian waited just long enough, waited for the day that Blaine didn’t have a morning shift to do this.

He pulls back with a wide grin, his one hand resting on the side of Sebastian’s neck. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Sebastian smirks, his eyes tracing over every inch of his face. “I wanted it to be a surprise, obviously.”

“I’m definitely surprised.” Blaine nods with much enthusiasm, making him chuckle. “You did a good thing. Being a Pitbull in a pound is never a good thing, you know you probably saved her life.”

He takes Blaine’s hand off his neck, gently holding it in his own before leaning forward and capturing his lips in a soft kiss. He doesn’t get very far however, because Sundae barks and tries to worm her way in-between them for attention, tail wagging a mile a minute. They let her, both of them praising her with ‘good girl’ and lots of kisses. She’ll be happy here, Blaine realizes. She’ll never have to be in a place like that again.

They can hang out and fool around and kiss and tease one another about what this is without actually saying the words but this? This is a form of commitment; Blaine looks up at Sebastian, for both of them.

“Looks like I’m going to have to watch out for her stealing your attention,” Sebastian smirks. “Other than Erica.”

Blaine playfully pushes him. “Don’t you have work to go to?”

He stands and nods, “Actually I do. You going to spend your day off getting supplies for her?”

Sundae licks the underside of his chin and he nuzzles their noses, “There’s nothing more I’d rather do.”

Blaine waits until Sebastian waves and heads out of his bedroom before grabbing his phone. He takes a quick and messy selfie of Sundae licking his face to send to Cooper with a text attached:

‘Getting to know Sebastian and so far? He’s pretty great.’

\---

Erica regrets opening the front door without looking at who it is. She really needs to stop doing that. If Noah the stalker has taught her anything it’s invest in another front door lock and look through the peephole before opening.

She optimistically thought it was Blaine, because he was just visiting with Sundae —yeah, she still can’t believe Sebastian adopted a _dog_ for them. She gets it, maybe?—the whole fact that Blaine seemed attached to Sundae the moment he met her and it was really sweet (Blaine’s words, not hers) of him to get her for them. And…maybe it is nice? But she can’t see Sebastian’s gestures as anything other than a big game in which he gets Blaine into bed, and right now he’s winning.

Blaine forgot his cardigan when he was visiting but unfortunately it’s not him, it’s…

“This isn’t working.” Hunter comments as he walks through the door and Erica blinks because.

“Uh, I didn’t invite you in and…how did you even know where I lived?”

He rolls his eyes, bored, “Oh come on. I’ve been there when you’ve talked about your apartment with Blaine. You practically laid out a GPS map for me.”

Erica closes the door and finally catches up to the beginning of the conversation, “What do you mean ‘this isn’t working’?”

Hunter shakes his head, looks like he can’t quite tell whether she’s that dense or just avoiding the topic. “Well, I’d say a dog adoption isn’t a step in the right direction.”

Oh. Of course this is what he’s here about. It’s not like she didn’t try, she _did_ tell Hunter things that should have driven wedges between Blaine and Sebastian. She even went as far as to change Blaine’s work dates on that little white-board she knows he uses so Hunter could suggest a party. But maybe enough was enough. The more she suggested, the more Hunter did, the _more_ Blaine and Sebastian seemed to get through it, pushing them even more together than they were before.

“And you know they uh, took another step right?” Hunter adds, like a cherry on top, like pushing nails into her skin with his thumb.

Another step. What does that even mean…oh. She can see it in Hunter’s eyes. Another step obviously means something sexual. Erica swallows thickly, feels like bile, her stomach instantly sick. She can’t look at him for a few moments, afraid of giving herself away.

“What, Blaine didn’t tell you?”

Erica glares at him now, her fingernails pushing into the palm of her hand as she makes a fist. What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Of _course_ Blaine didn’t tell her! Yeah, they talked about that sort of thing all the time, their excursions, but she hasn’t exactly been quiet about how she feels about Sebastian. Why would Blaine tell her something like that when it’d upset her?

And yet…she feels…betrayed is the wrong word, she shouldn’t _feel_ like that—Blaine isn’t her boyfriend, he’s her best friend. Left out maybe or…just hurt that he didn’t want to share something like that with her.

“I heard it from Sebastian,” Hunter tells her even though she didn’t ask, “Bragging, you know?”

She shakes her head—did Sebastian _actually_ brag or is Hunter just saying that to get even more under her skin. He bought Blaine a dog, if he wasn’t serious about him then that was one hell of a mistake. All of this just to sleep with his roommate? Maybe she was wrong.

The happier Blaine got about the ‘progress’ he seemed to be making with Sebastian, the guiltier she felt. She was supposed to his friend, his _best_ friend. What was she doing? It was a stupid and selfish idea anyways. It wasn’t too late to stop…

“Maybe it’s a sign to leave well enough alone.” Erica says after a moment, crossing her arms over her chest. She still feels sick; chooses her words carefully.

“Giving up so easy?” Hunter scoffs and she can hear the implication in his tone of voice: pathetic.

“I’ve just had enough, I don’t like keeping secrets from Blaine. And I wasn’t sure about this from the very beginning.”

“Don’t,” He says quickly, taking a step towards her, “Don’t pretend like this was all me. I saw something familiar in your eyes, you wanted this just as badly as I did. Maybe even more.”

Erica looks away, shame bubbling up in her chest. He’s right. She fucking hates that he’s right. Hunter shifts his weight but doesn’t move from the spot in front of her, cocks his head trying to get her attention, like a snake trying to eye up his prey.

“You know I used to play water polo in college? Don’t play much anymore but that strategic thinking never really goes away.” He waits a moment, purposed beats. “I was captain, obviously, and I worked the team hard.” Hunter tips her chin with his finger. “You know why I always won?”

Erica smacks his hand away and takes a step back, which just makes Hunter smirk. He puts his hands behind his back, intending on keeping them to himself from now on.

“Because I’m willing to see things through. This isn’t any different.”

He shrugs before refocusing, fixing her with a look as a dark shadow seems to pass over his features.

“I’d hate for Blaine to find out his best friend was trying to manipulate how he feels. Especially seeing how you’ve accused Sebastian of doing the same thing.”

“You wouldn’t.” Erica says but she can tell that Hunter knows that he has her exactly where he wants her all over again. A tiny bit of fear grips the bottom of her stomach, her joints turning into jello.

That would screw everything up with Sebastian for Hunter, wouldn’t it? Though, she wasn’t exactly clear on his intentions even from the beginning. There has to be more than just an apartment at stake here.

“Oh, that’s cute. I would. Just to see that kicked puppy dog face.”

Then it dawns on her, because why go through all this trouble if making Blaine hurt is all that he gets out of this? “You’re jealous.”

That’s the only thing that makes sense, that Hunter has feelings for Sebastian he can’t express because he knows they won’t be reciprocated. She’s sure seeing Sebastian with Blaine in a very different way than he’s ever been with Hunter doesn’t help.

“And you’re not?” He throws back. “Please. You may be having second thoughts but that doesn’t change how you feel about Blaine. Or Sebastian.”

And maybe Hunter is right but she can’t stop thinking about how happy Blaine has been lately, how convinced he is that Sebastian cares, that he’s willing to push aside the awful things he’s done because he’s showing him a side he’s never seen before. Maybe that’s worth some sort of consideration on her part.

“Blaine says he’s different. That _this_ is different…maybe…”

Hunter shakes his head, “People don’t change. They just…get better at hiding how they really feel.”

He sounds so cynical, an ugliness black as tar wrapping around his white ribcage and disintegrating bone. She won’t be a part of this anymore.

“I’m not helping you. Like you said, it’s not working anyways.”

“I don’t need your help.” He smirks, something nasty hidden right underneath his words. Erica can tell he has something planned or some sort of idea of the next steps he wants to take. “Things have a way of falling apart when you least expect them to.”

She doesn’t know Hunter very well but she knows that much like Sebastian, he’s used to getting what he wants. An obstacle just adds to the pleasure of overcoming it.

Hunter is finished with this conversation because he backs up towards the door and opens it, letting out a soft sigh like this entire afternoon has been a waste of his time. That _she_ has been a waste of his time.

But she has to know—“How do you know I’m not going to say anything to Blaine?” Because she’s considering it, she really is. The moment Hunter leaves, rushing to her phone and calling him back over.

To explain everything and get it off her chest, an itching under her skin like cockroaches infesting her bloodstream.

He smiles, “Because you want to continue being the person he comes to when he’s heartbroken. Not be the cause of it.” He pauses, tilting his head at her. “Because you love him.”

Erica stands in the same spot long after Hunter leaves, unable to move, minutes and minutes passing her by. In a twisted way, she knows Hunter is right. She does love him, even past the romantic kind there’s that deep seeded friendship adoration that fills up her entire body. Blaine is warm and kind and one of the most selfless people she knows. Of _course_ she loves him.

Deep down she’s worried that if she tells Blaine what happened that he won’t forgive her, that he’ll _never_ forgive her. And where will she be then? Of course she has other friends but to lose someone like Blaine would be like losing her spot of sunshine on dreary days.

She’s afraid she doesn’t have much of a choice.

\---

Blaine spends pretty much half of the day with Sundae, he was lucky to be able to get discounted food at the vet but he spoiled her with going to the pet store. He let her try all the beds she wanted until she found one she didn’t want to get out of, he bought her squeaky toys, bowls and a brand new harness so he didn’t have to yank at her neck with the leash. Expensive, but very worth it.

He puts the dog bed in living room because he figures Sundae can choose whether she wants to spend the night with Sebastian or himself in one of the bedrooms. Or…or maybe him and Sebastian will start spending nights together and she can settle in right between them. Blaine sets her bowls down in the kitchen and fills them up, chuckling a little as she rushes straight for the water.

As he’s putting dog treats and food away he notices a small slip of paper on the counter, an address and 5:30PM scribbled in pen. It’s definitely Sebastian’s handwriting and he thinks he recognizes the address, an Italian restaurant close to where his internship is. He’s seen it a few times when he’s in upper Manhattan, an adorable hole-in-the-wall place with outdoor patio seating but no doubt expensive.

Blaine glances at the clock; 5:45. He hums and twirls the corner of the piece of paper between his fingers before grabbing his keys. Sundae’s ears perk and she follows him to the door but she can’t come with him, even though he’d like to be able to take her. Well, this separation has to happen sooner or later.

He smiles and kneels, taking her face in his hands. “Stay, girl. I’ll be back.” He kisses her head and stands to close the door.

She doesn’t even bark, just seems to accept what her human is saying as the truth and trots back to the kitchen. Sundae already listens so well, he’s looking forward to teaching her how to ask to go out or silly tricks like rolling over or playing dead.

Blaine checks to make sure he has his MetroCard before wandering down into the subway, glancing at the map for the correct train to upper Manhattan. Short ride, he should have enough fare if he’s remembering correctly. He hopes Sebastian doesn’t mind him popping by but…he wants to see him.

Sebastian visited him at work so he’s thinking of this surprise as returning the favor. He should have finished up his internship at 5:30, if the white-board schedule is correct, so he wonders if he’s meeting friends for drinks or if he’s headed there for dinner with people he works with. Either way if Blaine can tell by peering in that it’s not a serious meeting, he hopes his roommate won’t mind if he joins him.

If he can’t then that’s okay too, he can grab some Thai food and maybe they can get ice cream before heading back home. He just…hopes he’s not running too far away with how he’s feeling. Sometimes it’s easy for Blaine to get swept up in his emotions, how _strong_ and connected he feels to someone that he forgets to slow down. To let the other person breathe, to let himself breathe.

The last thing he wants to do is strangle this thing with Sebastian before it even properly begins. That’s why he paces outside the restaurant and goes for the door handle three times before finally opening it. He can’t even imagine what he must look like to the hostess, talking to himself out there, buzzing in circles like a bee before coming inside.

He smiles at her sheepishly as she lets out a soft laugh, “Glad to see you’ve finally decided to join us.”

God. Blaine rubs the back of his neck and nods, “Yeah. Thanks. I uh, I actually wanted to see if someone was here first.” He looks towards the bar but doesn’t see Sebastian.

“Oh,” She looks down at the book in front of her on the stand. “Did they have a reservation?”

He has no clue. Maybe not? This place wasn’t hard to get into on a week day. “I don’t think so. I saw my roommate was heading here and I was going to surprise him.” He sounds like a creep, this was such a bad idea. “About this high?” Blaine motions with his hand, about a head taller than him. “Freckles in the right light, green eyes? Brown whispy hair. Most likely a smirk glued to his face.”

“Oh!” She says again with some recognition on her face. “Right, right. With a little girl?” Then Blaine frowns because, what? No. That can’t be right. Before he can say anything however, she’s grabbing a menu for him and motioning him towards the dining room, “This way.”

He follows her, trying to find the right opportunity to tell her she’s got the wrong table but then he sees him. Sebastian at a table for four with a little girl in one of the seats. She has to be at least ten, pale in complexion, a dark blue dress with silver sleeves making her cheeks look even more sunken then they already are. He doesn’t understand?

Can he get out of here before he sees him?

Sebastian looks up and Blaine freezes in mid-step, the hostess setting the menu down on their table, going back to the front of the restaurant without seeming to notice something is wrong. A shadow passes over Sebastian’s face instantly, dark and gloomy like a storm about to strike, lightening boiling behind his eyes.

He is _not_ happy he’s there.

He wants to move, maybe run out of the restaurant but his legs won’t make the connection to _go._ Instead he stands there, dumbfounded, the girl following Sebastian’s eyesight and giggling. She seems to whisper something to his roommate but he can’t quite make out what it is—he does hear his name, however.

Sebastian is up quickly, throwing his napkin down. He grabs Blaine’s arm and drags him away from the table towards where the restrooms are, a little more privacy for whatever he’s about to say.

“What are you _doing_ here?” He snaps.

Blaine knows he showed up without asking or even texting Sebastian to ponder over if it was alright if he could but…he’s completely blown away by how upset he sounds. No, maybe upset is the wrong word. Imposed on; yes, betrayed. After everything they’ve been through, after everything they’ve been trying to build…is it really so terrible that he showed up without permission?

He stumbles over the words in his mouth, swallowing over something thick in his throat. “I was just…” Blaine glances back at the table and then at Sebastian. “I saw your note on the counter and—”

“That wasn’t _for_ you.”

Yeah, okay, he gets that now. But he still doesn’t understand why Sebastian is so angry. Who is that girl anyways?

“Do I stick my nose into your personal business?” His roommate questions and it takes him a moment to process what he’s asking him.

Then he blinks because…doesn’t Sebastian always have a say in his personal business—especially when Blaine doesn’t want him to? Or is this a different kind of personal that Blaine can’t put his finger on.

“If I wanted you here, I would have asked.”

“I’m sorry,” He finally says, withering under Sebastian’s gaze. This is what he meant about approaching things too quickly, about smothering something before it has a chance to happen. He’s afraid he’s ruined the progress they’ve been able to make. “I didn’t mean to come uninvited, I just wanted to see you…I wanted to surprise you.”

He doesn’t look moved by what he has to say but before he can reply with another set of scathing remarks the same little girl from the table approaches them and wraps her arm around one of Sebastian’s.

“’Bastian?” She looks up at him.

In an instant all the anger and frustration seems to melt off of his roommate into a puddle on the floor. He’s never seen him go from annoyed to relaxed in such a short amount of time—whoever this girl is, she’s important to him. She’s got him wrapped around her little finger, all she had to do was say his name to have him calm down.

She glances over at Blaine and smiles, a little shy, pressing her face into Sebastian’s sleeve to hide the blush on her cheeks. She’s so much smaller up close, frail in a way that draws Blaine’s eyebrows together…she doesn’t look healthy. She’s beautiful though, something that seems to come easy to her with her high cheekbones and softly curled hair.

“Is Blaine going to join us for dinner?” There’s a hopeful tone to her voice, something Sebastian won’t be able to say no to—no matter how angry he is with him. And she knows who he is so…does that mean he was talking about him before he showed up and ruined everything?

No, he should just go home. Blaine offers her a small smile and shakes his head, “I’m sorry, I—”

“He would love to.” Sebastian interrupts, running his other hand through the girl’s hair. “We’ll be right there okay? Order yourself another Shirley Temple.” He nods and gently nudges her towards her table.

“I…I can just go. I’ve made enough of a mess.”

Sebastian sighs and runs a hand over his face. “No. You’re already here. You might as well stay. She’ll be disappointed if you leave.”

Blaine swallows, hates the way Sebastian’s voice sounds: apprehensive, cut-off, cold. Disconnected and disinterested, like he’s afraid of getting too close. Did he really destroy the ten steps forward that they made together with fifteen steps back?

He reaches out for Sebastian’s hand but pauses, decides against it. How many times can he say he’s sorry? He might as well get through this dinner, it doesn’t look like he has any other choice. He can only hope that when they get back home he can do some sort of damage control.

“Wait, before we go,” Blaine says as Sebastian turns. The taller pauses and looks back at him, waiting. “Who is she?”

Sebastian sticks his hands in his pockets and clears his throat, avoiding his gaze until he replies, “Her name is Lucy. She’s my sister.”

Blaine opens and closes his mouth like a goldfish before finally walking with Sebastian towards the table.

\---

His sister. His…from what Blaine can tell, _ten_ year old sister.

He takes the bread as Lucy passes it to him, his tongue feeling like a big glob of cotton suddenly in his mouth. He has no idea what to say. He had _no_ idea that Sebastian even had siblings. All the times he’s mentioned Cooper to his roommate and nothing, not one mention that he had a sister.

Blaine’s always been open to talking about his family while Sebastian never mentions anything like that. Never talks about family holidays, his parents sending him birthday cards, visiting his sister…nothing. _This_ is the kind of ‘personal’ Sebastian was talking about: family. This is the side he never gets to see.

A selfish part of him wonders when he was going to learn about this, when Sebastian trusted him enough to tell him. He knows that they only recently began to become closer, to try and figure out their feelings for one another but…he still wishes he knew. That’s always been a hard pill for Blaine to swallow—the fact that he’s always so open with people to realize that it’s not always the same case back. Some people never let others in, at least not as easily as he does.

He’s still learning that.

“So what’s your favorite part of the city?” Blaine asks, hoping he’s not interrupting them. They’ve been talking, granted it’s small talk but…he can’t help but be a little distracted that he had _no_ idea that Sebastian had siblings.

Lucy blinks at the sudden question and Sebastian glances at him as if he’s picked up the plate in front of him and swallowed it whole. But a smile instantly breaks out onto her face because she replies, “Central Park!”

He laughs a little, trying not to look at his roommate who seems stuck between killing him and throwing a glass in his direction, giving Lucy his full attention. “I love Central Park. Especially bow bridge.”

She gasps and covers her mouth, “That’s my favorite too. And the zoo, of course.”

“Of course.” He agrees, sipping his water.

“But I really love getting breakfast with Sebastian and sitting outside before anyone’s around, watching the trees or the squirrels.” She pokes at the spaghetti on her plate. “He always finds the best bagels.”

Breakfast in the park before anyone is around, he can appreciate that. He wonders if Sebastian doesn’t always jog in the mornings he gets up at five and six AM. Or maybe he jogs to her with breakfast and they eat in the park.

Regardless of how annoyed he is about Blaine crashing this lunch, Sebastian can’t help but smile at his sister. Soft and fond, almost something that feels like should be secret, “That’s because I don’t want to have to put up with your tantrums, you little monster.”

“I have to admit you _do_ find the best bagels.” Blaine mentions, trying to crack the ice a little between them.

Before Sebastian can say anything, Lucy perks up and adds, “Sebastian says you know how to cook and that everything is delicious. He talks about you a lot.”

He raises an eyebrow and laughs softly as Sebastian quickly speaks over his sister, “I never said that and no I don’t.”

“You did and you do!” She gasps, dropping her fork. “You said his pancakes made you feel fuzzy.”

Lucy squeaks out a laugh as Sebastian literally covers her mouth with his hand, shaking his head at Blaine whose grin is nearly splitting his face in half.

“Get that look off your face.”

Now it’s his turn for Blaine to cover his mouth, “I’m not looking at you like anything.” He says innocently and starts eating his food as if the conversation never happened.

This ten year old girl is much smarter than she appears. In a short amount of time she’s managed to run damage control on her brother and his roommate because by the end of lunch Sebastian is smiling at him again and he knows it’s genuine with how warm he feels all the way down to his toes.

\---

Sebastian pays for the entire bill even though Blaine tries to give him money. When he smacks the cash out of Blaine’s hands the third time he figures, okay, not doing that again. He’ll just pick up his grocery list next week and call it even. He follows the two outside and lets out a slow breath, enjoying the lingering of autumn in the air as a crisp breeze blows through his curls.

He assumes this is where they part ways. 

“Hot chocolate!” Lucy jumps between them, grabbing both of their hands. She uses them as leverage to swing a little near their legs but her knees brush the sidewalk. “Hot chocolate, ‘Bastian, please?”

Blaine doesn’t even need to look at her to know she’s laying on the puppy dog eyes pretty thick because Sebastian sighs and ruffles her hair with his hand. Hot chocolate sounds wonderful but he’s not about to impose a second time.

“I’ll see you at home?” He asks, gently twirling Lucy in a ballet circle as she holds onto her hand.

“No, you have to come.” She says and stands up straight. Lucy grabs onto both of his hands and leans back, pulling him. Her smile is bright, radiant, with a hint of mischief in her eyes that mirror the way her brother sometimes looks at him.

“Oh I…” He glances at Sebastian, at a loss for what he should do.

His roommate nods eventually, tilting his head in the direction they want to go. “Come with us.” He says, not because he has to but because he wants to. Sebastian isn’t angry anymore, he _wants_ him there with them.

And how can Blaine say no to that?

A small smile tugs its way onto his mouth before he nods, Lucy giggling and looking up at Sebastian and holding her arms up. Even though she’s ten, she’s small for her age and Sebastian picks her up with practiced ease. They walk to Madison Square Park mostly in silence but it’s nice, comfortable, he feels like he belongs there with them, Blaine’s shoulder occasionally brushing against his.

He can feels his eyes on him every so often and meets them in a gentle gaze when he turns his head to listen to Lucy when she speaks. Blaine doesn’t hear much of her random bursts of bubbliness, he’s too busy tracing the lines of Sebastian’s face. He wants to kiss him again, bring back that intimacy they shared this morning. Touch him again so he knows it wasn’t just in his head, that he wasn’t making it all up.

“Strawberry.” He says to Lucy when she asks him his favorite ice cream flavor.

Sebastian gives him a skeptical look as he sets Lucy down, taking her hand as they walk towards the hot chocolate and coffee cart. “Really? You have soft-serve chocolate written all over you.”

“I only eat ice cream if it’s hard.” Then flushes because Sebastian smirks, giving him a wink that Lucy doesn’t see. “I just—mean…” _God._ Walked right into that one, “I don’t enjoy soft-serve.”

“Who does?” His roommate says innocently, “So not as _satisfying.”_

Blaine’s going to kill him.

When they walk up to the counter and order hot chocolate, he knows better than to try and give Sebastian money and are all handed a small cup piled high with marshmallows.

Lucy takes hers first and walks towards a girl who is playing hopscotch with her mom, Sebastian eyeing her carefully as he makes sure the two are open to her company. They walk to a bench nearby and sit, a soft smile touching Sebastian’s mouth as Lucy sets her hot chocolate down and helps the other little girl draw a more intricate hopscotch.

Blaine watches her a few moments before taking a sip of his hot chocolate, the contrast between the warm liquid and the chill in the air sending a shiver down his spine.

Sebastian seems to notice, even though his attention isn’t completely on Blaine. “You cold?”

“No, I’m good.” Blaine says honestly, wrapping his hands around the cup, the heat seeping into his palms.

Sebastian hums under his breath but slides closer to him, his arm wrapping gently around his shoulders. Blaine wastes no time leaning into his chest, letting out a soft sigh of relief at how warm his roommate is. He molds into his side, his head every so often resting against the other’s shoulder, his scent mixed with the chocolate of his drink to the point where it’s almost dizzying.

“So…you said my pancakes make you fuzzy, hmm?”

The taller groans and his head dips back as he looks towards the trees in frustration, “I would never; she has quite the imagination.”

Blaine laughs softly, bringing his hot chocolate up to his lips to blow. “Right.”

They’re quiet for a moment, enjoying the press of their bodies together, enjoying the hot chocolate on their tongues, watching Lucy hop along with her newfound friend and giggle when they get chalk on their coats. This is so… _domestic_ that Blaine’s afraid it feels too much like a sinkhole, a strong current pulling him out to sea. He lets his head rest along Sebastian’s, allows his eyes to close for a brief moment because…how did he get here? Is this really how smooth relationships develop so fast?

Things with his ex had been messy from start to finish but he always thought that was part of it…because what was worth anything if it was easy? But maybe he had it all wrong. Maybe it’s _not_ supposed to be so damn hard all the time. Maybe it’s about finding someone who makes it feel easy, like he’s not even trying, like pieces are falling into place even in the dark.

Blaine’s still afraid of sounding too hopeful, of letting himself _feel._ Sometimes he steps into things so blindly he doesn’t see the landmines.

“Lucy is pretty great.” He says after a few moments, inching back just a little so he can see Sebastian’s face.

Sebastian nods as his thumb traces the outside of Blaine’s arm, “Yeah. She’s ten years old and she loves the snow, wants to be a marine biologist. She doesn’t like avocado because it freaks her out, says they remind her of little alien pods,” Blaine laughs; _totally understandable,_ “And she has more attitude in her pinky finger than I have in my entire body, which is really saying something.”

He watches her for a moment; she laughs at something the other girl said and waves to them. Sebastian waves back before,

“She’s ten years old and she has leukemia.”

Blaine’s breath hitches in his chest because, _why?_ Which doesn’t make any sense because he figures _what_ should be the first thing he thinks of. But no, it’s _why—_ not that anyone should have cancer but _why_ a little ten-year old girl who loves hot chocolate and hopscotch such a backhanded slap from life?

He pulls back and looks at his roommate, _really_ looks at him, because as he does the _what_ starts to dance on his tongue. Did he really just tell him that? Was it a mistake? Did he really mean to share something so personal with him? But as his eyes trace over his face he can’t sense any regret for telling him.

“Sebastian,” He whispers because what else can he do? What does someone say to something like that? No words in the world are meaningful enough.

Sebastian clears his throat and finally looks at him, green meeting hazel. “She’s been in remission for a year but…sometimes it just feels like a waiting game. And I hate that that’s all I focus on sometimes, instead of how lucky I am that she’s still here.”

Blaine sighs and creates a little more space between them, angles his body so that he’s facing him. “I’m so sorry.”

Sebastian shakes his head. “I know.” He takes a sip from his hot chocolate, watching his thumb run over the rim of the cup. “She looks up to me, I’m her big brother. I just…feel like she expects that I should be able to _fix_ this somehow.” 

Blaine’s heart tugs painfully in his chest, his one hand moving to rest along the back of Sebastian’s neck. He massages the muscle there, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss against his temple.

“From what I can tell your sister is pretty smart, she’s not going to blame you because you can’t fix this. She adores you,” He assures him. Blaine isn’t sure he should but he feels comfortable enough to ask, “Why did you want to tell me about this? I didn’t even know you had a sister.”

He gets it that Sebastian doesn’t overshare like he does and that’s fine, everyone’s different with how comfortable they are discussing private things that are important to them. But there must have been a reason that his roommate was so _angry_ with him when he showed up at that restaurant, uninvited, ripping Sebastian’s personal life wide open.

Sebastian swallows before glancing over at Blaine, his voice low as he speaks, “Because I didn’t want you to look at me like you are right now.”

He doesn’t want pity or empathy, he doesn’t want to be comforted…no, this is something different. He wants to know that Blaine cares, that he’s able to be in this with him, that he’s not alone. No big gestures or long-winded speeches that everything will be alright—he’s heard those, he’s been given more than enough hugs.

So Blaine does what he can, in the smallest of ways, by pressing a long kiss to his cheek and taking his hand to hold in his own.

He can feel it when it happens, Sebastian’s body slowly uncoiling, relaxing into the touch.

They’re quiet for a while, their hands slowly lacing together, like a sewing machine effortlessly stitching together two pieces of misshapen fabric. The park is quiet except for their gentle breathing, Lucy occasionally giggling with her new found friend and a breeze rustling tree leaves until a few flutter to the ground.

He’s starting to wonder what it’d be like to sit there forever—Blaine thinks he’d be content to do so.

Then his phone rings.

It’s Erica; he hits decline. He can talk to her later, he’s not breaking this moment. Except…then she calls two more times, and on the fourth call he has to pick up because apparently she’s not taking ‘not now’ as an answer.

“Sorry.” Blaine says as he stands and pushes the green button, taking a few steps away from the bench, “Erica, I can’t—”

He’s interrupted by crying, or maybe she’s been crying all this time and that’s why she’d called in the first place. Fuck, he’s such an asshole.

“Erica…whoa, hey.” He plugs his other ear with his fingers to concentrate, “Hey, slow down. What happened?”

“Jackson.” She manages to choke out.

Blaine’s blood runs cold. He knows all about Jackson. Erica’s complained about him before; a married guy at her work that just won’t get the hint that she wants nothing to do with him. He’s told her to report him but she won’t do it, too afraid she’ll somehow lose her job in the process. He gets it, he really does—but how much of this is she supposed to put up with?

“Can you please…?”

She doesn’t have to say another word, of course he’ll come. “I’ll be there soon.” and hangs up the phone.

He turns to look at Sebastian, whose jaw is working, his fingers tight around his cup of hot chocolate. “Erica?”

Had he overheard? “Yeah, she’s…something happened at work. She’s upset and needs me.”

“I’m sure she does.”

Blaine swallows and slowly pockets his phone. He’s not sure how to approach this conversation again.

“Please don’t be like this.”

“Are you kidding me right now? I’m not sure what you want from me, Blaine. All I know is that I’m actually showing you something ‘serious’, your words not mine by the way, and you want to what? Run away? For someone who keeps conveniently interrupting?”

He’s taken back by how angry he is all of a sudden, an orange fire alight in his green eyes. How long has he been keeping this conversation in, under his ribcage, hidden behind organs? Since he visited him at work?

“I am _not_ running away.”

He doesn’t know what else to say. Erica is his closest friend…she wants him to be happy. What is Sebastian accusing her of? Going as far as to look up his location on her phone, come up with an elaborate plan to have Jackson harass her so that she can then call Blaine to pull him away from Sebastian? It doesn’t even make sense. It _has_ to be unresolved jealousy or insecurity or _something._ Things he’d never assume Sebastian struggled with but after today? Does he really know him as well as he thinks he does?

Why won’t the universe let him try to figure this out—to have them both co-exist in his orbit.

“I’m not…” How does Blaine even… “It’s not like I didn’t appreciate today, Sebastian, it meant _everything_ to me.”

He’s simmering, Blaine can see it in his posture, ready to boil. He’s trying to choose his words carefully but he honestly doesn’t understand where this is coming from.

“But not enough to stay.”

Sebastian is pushing him away, doors and windows domino shut, keeping him out. Brick upon brick start to stack back up, building walls. He gets up from the bench, throwing his hot chocolate away. Fuck, _no,_ Blaine starts to panic—following him, the feeling of scrambling felt between his ribs. Sand is slipping through his fingers, rope is sliding out of his grasp.

“Seb, please, it’s not like that. You didn’t hear her on the phone. I’m her best friend.” But even that is starting to sound like an excuse.

His roommate shakes his head, his body straightening, shoulders evening out into a sharp line. As he turns to looks at Blaine, his stance is very clear. He’s tall and he _wants_ to tower above him, almost menacing, belittling.

“I thought you were naïve but you really just don’t get it, do you?” His words cut like tiny bits of glass working their way through his veins, shredding him up inside. “She’s doing all of this because she’s in love with you.”

Blaine frowns, confusion wrapping around his body like a cold, wet blanket. What? No. She’s his friend, his _best_ friend. They love one another, of course, but it’s not like that. Sebastian watches him for a moment, both unmoving. He feels like he’s somehow swallowed his tongue. What can he _say_ to that?

 _No? You’re wrong?—_ Both sound so pathetically not enough on his lips. He _has_ to be wrong—but a tiny flutter against the back of his mind worries that he might somehow be right.

“Can’t say that I completely blame her.” Sebastian says after a moment, which just makes Blaine feel worse. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, between his best friend and something more. Words won’t come and his body can’t move, even after Sebastian gathers Lucy into his arms and leaves the park.

\---

Blaine can’t stop thinking about it—seeing Sebastian walk away in his mind’s eye. That sickening pit in his stomach opens up wider, like a black hole in the middle of his body, taking organs and bones and muscles and tissue until he’s completely empty.

He can’t even focus on his crying friend against his chest; he knows how selfish that is.

“You’re distracted today.” Erica says, her voice a little muffled against him.

Shit. “I’m sorry,” He brushes his lips along her forehead, letting out a soft sigh.

There’s no way in hell he’s going to tell her about what happened with Sebastian. Not to mention he really doesn’t want her to know that he can’t stop thinking about his roommate when she called him to be there for her. He needs to be present.

“It’s just a headache.”

It’s quiet for a few moments, Erica sniffling every so often as she finishes recounting what happened at work.

Then, “You always come when I call.” She whispers as tears course down her cheeks, a few plopping onto the collar of his shirt

Now on top of the black hole he feels guilty. He thinks he got the gist of what she’s been saying but that really isn’t the point…he should have been more attentive.

Blaine inches a bit closer to her on the couch, cupping her cheek with his one hand so he can remove tear tracks with his thumb. “Of course. What are friends for?”

She smiles a little and takes a tissue when he offers her one, curling hair around her ear. “I know you said I should do something about it but I’m just…” she looks down at her hands, the tissue ripping between her fingers. “I’m not strong enough.”

He shakes his head; that is not what he wants her to think about herself just because some asshole can’t keep his hands to himself. Blaine sits up a little and gently grasps her shoulders, waiting until her eyes meet his own before he speaks.

“Hey, no. You _are_ strong enough, I think that’s more than apparent seeing as how you keep putting up with this dick when you shouldn’t have to. I definitely would have punched him in the mouth already,” A soft laugh leaves her lips and he smiles back at her, “We’ll figure this out, okay? I promise.”

Erica nods and it’s not until her eyes slowly drift to his lips that he realizes how close they’re sitting. This isn’t anything out of the ordinary, how many times have they curled up on her couch or his to eat take-out or watch a movie? But this moment feels different, electrically charged air between them. A soft smile tugs at the ends of his mouth as he looks at her, pushes her hair over her shoulder and goes to pull back but before he can she’s leaning in—

She’s leaning in and kissing him.

Blaine pulls back instantly and stands, shaking his head, running a hand over his face as his fingers linger on his lips.

“God, I’m sorry.” She says but he barely hears her over the rushing sound in his ears comparable to the ocean. “I didn’t mean to…”

She didn’t mean to, it was an accident, too many heavy emotions pressed together in a small space. She was upset and he was there, comforting her, like he always was, their bodies nearly lined up together, breathing the same air, of _course_ it was an accident but…

_She’s doing all of this because she’s in love with you._

Blaine’s breath stutters against his ribcage, his heart falling into his stomach, the acid burning all the way up his throat. He slowly turns to look at her, his mouth open as realization slams onto his features. Oh, fuck.

Sebastian was right.

“You kissed me.” He says suddenly; he doesn’t want to make it sound like an accusation but that’s exactly how it tumbles out of his mouth. She swallows and shakes her head, moving to stand from the couch.

“Blaine…” She wants to explain herself, he can hear it in her voice. But what could she possibly say? They’ve been friends for _so_ long…

He tries to give her the benefit of the doubt, the heightened emotions, the fact that they care about one another so deeply—and maybe that would have been enough, maybe that could have explained everything if Blaine hadn’t seen the look in her eyes as she leaned in to kiss him. There was purpose, there was _want_ and _need._

“You know I’m gay.” Wheels are spinning in his head, almost off their cycle, something swirling in his stomach and making his knees weak—it feels a lot like some form of betrayal.

“I know, it wasn’t supposed to be like that. I got caught up, I was upset.”

“But you _do_ have feelings for me.” Blaine says quickly, watching her carefully as she nods.

He knows he wouldn’t usually be upset about this, he’s made silly mistakes before…sometimes you can’t help how you feel about someone, sometimes the heart does stupid things and produces feelings you don’t want or know how to get rid of.

But…part of him worries that if Sebastian was right about this, then is he right about how she did things on purpose to pull them away from one another?

Blaine pinches the bridge of his nose, his hands shaking, “God, did you even have a problem with Jackson or did you just want me all to yourself?”

He hates himself a little for saying it as her eyes go wide, “How could you say something like that? Of _course_ I didn’t make it up!”

“Because maybe I don’t know you as well as I thought I did!”

Erica scoffs and crosses her arms over her chest, she’s angry now, Blaine’s pinched a nerve. “I find that ironic coming from you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“All Sebastian had to do was give you one recycled pick-up line to reel you in.”

Blaine looks to the ceiling, his hands falling to his hips. “So this _is_ about Sebastian.” It’s not a question, he should have realized this from the beginning, he should have gone with his gut the first few times Erica mentioned she didn’t like him.

“Sebastian’s the same jerk that moved in on day one, just because you’re kissing him and doing… _whatever else_ with him now doesn’t change that.”

He laughs a little harshly, “And I’m supposed to what? Trust you? Because your opinion is so unbiased? People change, he’s different around me.”

He came here based on a promise to always be there for one another and as far as he can tell he’s carried out that promise time and time again. But maybe promises were made to be rewritten every once and a while, adapted. Blaine puts his shoes on and looks around for his sweater, finding it under one of the couch pillows. He doesn’t want to fight with her, he’s always been terrible at confrontation—he doesn’t have to stand around and listen to this. They can talk again once emotions are done simmering.

“Is that why he’s home with Hunter right now?”

He pauses as he puts on his sweater, turning to look at her. What? How could she possibly know that?

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the fact that Sebastian is probably in bed with Hunter right now.”

He wants to laugh but the sound gets stuck in his throat. Blaine shakes his head and finishes pulling his sweater on. “You can’t possibly know that.”

Erica’s arms fall from against her chest; she appears to be unraveling, her face less flushed, and her eyes tired. She looks…defeated. “Hunter told me.”

The room feels like it’s spinning around Blaine, colors meshing together in a blender, heart beating in his ears. What does that _mean?_ Her and Hunter can’t stand one another—“You mean you’re telling me that you suddenly talk to Hunter?”

“I should have been honest with you about how I felt…maybe if I had I wouldn’t have…” She trails off a moment, chewing on her lower lip, “Let him talk me into a stupid plan to break the two of you up.”

She continues to talk, the how and why and when, but her voice fades into the background—becomes white noise. He watches her for a long time, or maybe it’s not long at all he’s not sure, his brain is having trouble catching up with the words coming out of her mouth. He doesn’t care about the why, he doesn’t care about what each of them got out of this or if anything at all.

He lets in a short breath into his lungs, his eyes clouding over with tears that sting, “The party that Sebastian threw at our apartment,” Blaine interrupts her, “You changed the white-board that had my work days on it.”

Erica swallows, “And Hunter suggested the party to Sebastian.”

He doesn’t want to know what else they did, he feels so _violated._ He can’t even look at her. He has to go, he has to go _right now._ Blaine turns to leave but Erica grabs his arm, he doesn’t have enough energy to pull away.

“I stopped working with him. I-I told him I’d had enough. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

He scoffs and takes her hand off him, “That why he’s still texting you?”

Her hand is still outstretched in the air, palm open, wanting to touch him again but knowing she can’t. “He was just…rubbing it in my face. That he could do this without me. I just wanted you to know about Sebastian, that’s all I was trying to do.”

“That somehow makes it so much better?” Blaine snaps, a few tears slipping down his cheeks. He angrily scrubs them away, “You’re not who I thought you were.”

“Blaine, please—”

But he leaves without another word, slamming the door closed.


	7. seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only two chapters left after this! Please enjoy :)

Blaine stands outside their apartment door for what seems like hours. He’s emotionally drained to say the very least and wants nothing more than to crawl in bed and curl up with Sundae. But another part of him is worried to what he’ll find inside. He keeps telling himself that Erica was wrong, that even if she was working with Hunter that Sebastian was different. That they’d reached an understanding between them both. That they _meant_ something more to one another despite setbacks.

He already knows what he’s going to find behind this door but it doesn’t make him any more ready for it.

He slowly unlocks the door and lets himself inside, throwing the keys on the kitchen table. Sundae greets him by standing up on her legs, wanting pets and Blaine gently obliges, stroking his fingers underneath her chin and chest. It’s quiet, much quieter than he thought it would be and a stupid part of him hangs onto a sliver of hope that Erica was wrong.

Until he looks up and Sebastian is walking towards him in just his boxer briefs. He swallows thickly, tries not to take in how unkempt he looks, sweat kissed skin, hickies on his neck, hair wild.

He feels like he’s been punched in the throat, hard for him to swallow, the lump remaining high and painful almost like it’s under his tongue.

“Blaine,” Sebastian says after a moment but the shorter shakes his head.

“No, I don’t want to hear any excuses.” He should leave but a raw part of him realizes—where is he supposed to go?

“Good, because I don’t think I have any.” He admits, his voice is cold, unfeeling. “You left.” Sebastian doesn’t regret what he’s done because a part of him probably thinks Blaine deserves this. Even now Blaine tries to talk himself out of what his roommate is doing, knows that everything he does is some sort of defense mechanism. And _hates_ that he’s trying to give him some sort of excuse, like this is somehow okay.

“Oh right,” Blaine scoffs, tone thick with emotion, “I suppose that makes it all okay. I thought you were different but you ended up being exactly the person Erica tried to warn me about.” He finally has the courage to look up at him, shaking his head in disapproval. “She was right, I need a new roommate.”

Sebastian laughs, “That opinion coming from someone who clearly has trouble making smart decisions?” He gives him a pointed look.

“Erica may be in love with me but at least I can trust how she feels.” He shouldn’t have come home. Sundae barks and trots off to the couch, whining a little as she settles along the cushions. She’s not okay with them fighting, that’s clear. Blaine isn’t exactly thrilled with it either—but would it benefit either of them just to _not_ talk about it?

“You left.” Sebastian says again with more heat, gaining his attention. “Even after I told you what I thought about Erica, you _left.”_ There’s needles in his words; clearly Blaine hadn’t realized how upset he’d really been at the park.

_Technically you were the one who walked away,_ plays in the background of his head but he bites his tongue on saying it.

“And you really wonder why I don’t tell anyone about my sister?”

_That_ pokes at a tender, raw nerve because, really? “You don’t _trust_ me?” Blaine snaps, “Are you kidding me? You’re right, I decided to leave for Erica but _you_ slept with someone else when we were trying to establish something!”

One did not equal the other; Sebastian can’t possibly think that both of these situations were the same. They can’t even compare.

“A dog and a cheap frottage session doesn’t really establish much, does it?” Sebastian sneers, nearly getting in his face.

Before Blaine can even contemplate what he’s doing, his hand slaps Sebastian across the face, tears welling hotly in his eyes. If anything it’s because he’s embarrassed because he can see Hunter come out of Sebastian’s bedroom, watching them, a handsome smirk dancing across his features. He’s sure he’s heard everything.

A breath hiccups in his chest as he pulls away, Sebastian’s neck a little craned to the side from the force of his slap. Sundae growls low and warning from the couch as Hunter moves down the hall and he halts when he hears her. She’s protective…Blaine’s surprised she hasn’t tried to nip at his ankles yet.

He doesn’t see regret in Sebastian’s eyes, his palm stinging as he pauses and _looks,_ really looks. But sees nothing.

Blaine’s never really hated anyone but something burns where his heart is behind his ribcage. An aching _hurt_ he’s never quite felt before, even with his ex. He can see Hunter hovering in the background, only covered with a sheet. Blaine sees Sebastian in his mind’s eye—soft smiles just for him, the gentle pressure of his touch against his shoulder, hand, his mouth along his jawline and lingering on his lips. Whispers against skin, their noses nuzzling between kisses, the way he _feels_ against his chest—all building up inside of him at once like a tidal wave threatening to spill over.

“Blaine.” Is all Sebastian says, that’s all it takes.

“I hate you.”

He turns to grab his keys and leaves, the door gently shutting behind him, Sundae whining low in her throat in the background.

\---

The apartment is quiet and cold after Blaine leaves and it’s not until he’s gone for a few hours that Sebastian realizes he’s made a mistake. A fucking huge mistake.

He’s not even going to try and justify this thing with Hunter—he went and did what he’s always done when he’s hurting. He tried to bury it in someone’s ass, in sweaty cold sheets and empty moans. He fucked up trying to figure things out just so he wouldn’t have to deal with the fallout later.

He came home pissed off and _envious_ that somehow even after Sebastian tried to reach out of his comfort zone for Blaine, something he’s never done before for anyone, Erica _still_ managed to drag him away. It just confirmed why he doesn’t open up—because people always leave.

All these emotions swirling in his ribcage at once and a perfect storm of Hunter being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He slid up to Sebastian like a dog in heat, pressing in all the right places, kissing all of his sweet spots. Tugging, begging, _comforting._

And he let himself be led to the bedroom.

Sebastian sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. Stupid. Sundae whines at his feet, scratching at his leg. He reaches down and pets her ears, reaching into one of the cookie jars near the fridge to hand her a treat. “I know girl, daddy’s stupid.” He mumbles.

He can feel Hunter make his way back into the kitchen, dressed in his jeans and t-shirt that he showed up in.

“Was waiting in the shower for you to join me.” He says, his chin resting on Sebastian’s shoulder.

Sebastian instantly takes a step to the side and sighs, busying himself in the kitchen. “Hope you didn’t waste all the hot water.”

Hunter pours himself a cup of coffee and goes to the fridge to grab Blaine’s creamer. Sebastian kicks the door of the fridge to get his attention and shakes his head.

“Are you fucking kidding me? What did I tell you about his creamer?”

He scoffs but puts it back in the fridge, letting the door close. “It’s not like he’s coming back any time soon. Fuck, who knows, maybe you’ll need a new roommate.” He grins.

Sebastian’s fingers tighten into his palm and he just barely resists the urge to punch Hunter right in his nose, “And what, you think that’s going to be you?” He laughs, this dance with him is getting tiresome. “We fought, it happens. Blaine will come back and you better not be here when he does.”

He knows that this is his fault, that he came home and Hunter was here on his bed, waiting. That he started undressing the minute Sebastian told him to ‘fuck off, I have a headache’—because he knew _exactly_ what he needed. Hunter was always keen to monopolize on Sebastian’s emotions, especially when he was upset or irritated; the easiest ways to get him into bed.

But he’s done. Too many times has he felt like nothing after the sweat dried. Sebastian was right when he told Blaine that fooling around once didn’t establish a whole lot…but he knows how he _feels_ with that tiny, frustrating ball of curls in his arms is something he’s never felt with anyone else. He knows that he doesn’t want to lose it.

“You’re joking.” Hunter demands, anger lacing around his words.

Sebastian thought the conversation was over, but clearly not. Sundae starts down the hall and pushes her nose into Sebastian’s bedroom. He needs to put a set of clean sheets on his bed and slowly turns to look at Hunter.

“Does it look like I’m joking?”

“All of a sudden you really care what Blaine thinks?” Hunter moves quickly, goes to grab Sebastian’s arm, “You really going to let this insignificant, pathetic, _prick—_ ”

His arm and fist react before he has time to think about it but out of all the things Sebastian regrets tonight, this isn’t one of them. He punches Hunter across the nose, quick with a satisfied _crunch_ greeting Sebastian’s ears.

“You’re not even half the person he is,” Sebastian tells him, surprisingly calm. Hunter stands up straight, his nose bleeding into his mouth. “Get the fuck out.”

Hunter spits blood onto the floor before glaring at him, leaving in a swift motion as he slams the front door shut, nearly splintering the wood. Sebastian’s glad the ‘I never want to see you again’ is pretty clear without him having to say it.

\---

It was a really great idea to leave until Blaine realized that he didn’t have anywhere to go. He wasn’t talking to his best friend, he couldn’t stay home and he wasn’t about to book a flight to LA to see Cooper in the middle of the night with no luggage. Luckily, he had a few friends at work he could call and someone let him crash on his couch for the past few nights until he figured out what he was going to do.

He only went home when Sebastian wasn’t there and he eventually worked out his work hours so that they were on opposite schedules—he was home when Sebastian was at his internship and vice versa.

Blaine doesn’t know what he wants. A rash part of him keeps whispering in his ear to pack up his shit, move out, find somewhere else to live. He doesn’t want to make Sebastian leave; two failed relationships gave the apartment a sour taste in his mouth. If anyone was going to move out, it was him. But leaving sounds a lot easier than it is…where was he going to go? Was he really going to apartment hunt all over again? He doubts he’d be able to find something so close to where he was working and have it be affordable.

He talks it through so many times in his head—should he really leave? Was that the smartest choice? It was a terrible fight and he hates the way Sebastian made him feel…but he wasn’t one to leave angry, to purposely not try to resolve something.

Days keep passing and Blaine keeps avoiding his roommate, ignoring phone calls and notes left on the fridge and his bedroom door. It’s clear that a decision is going to take time. But he wishes he’d just _stop_ feeling like this, like his chest is caving in on itself, like his heart is being crushed between two cinder blocks. He keeps waiting to feel okay again but it’s just not happening.

Blaine sighs as he sits on his bed, his phone between his ear and his shoulder as his hands fold clothes. Sundae keeps getting right in the middle of his folding process, lying on her back and barking when she wants her belly rubbed.

“I can’t believe you all got a dog together.”

He licks his lips at Cooper’s statement in his ear and pauses to pet Sundae’s belly. “Technically Sebastian got her for us as a surprise.”

“Yeah but isn’t it like custody battles over there?” Cooper must be out on a walk because Blaine can hear chatter in the background, beach music, the gentle pressure of waves crashing. He’s never wished to be there more than this moment.

“Not really, she usually just spends the night with whose home first. Besides, here’s better than in a cage.” He leans down and kisses her head, tugging a shirt out from under her.

Cooper sighs, “I can’t believe all the shit that’s gone down in such a short amount of time. You were just telling me how well things were going.”

“They _were.”_ Blaine agrees, folding his shirt and putting it on a pile. He sighs and leans back against the headboard, letting his eyes close. “I let myself go too fast, after everything with Kurt I just…I knew I should have just slowed down, thought about stuff.”

“Alright, let’s get two things straight,” Cooper pauses a moment, maybe finds somewhere to sit. “One, Sebastian is not Kurt, you can’t compare them. Two, dating doesn’t have a speed limit, buddy. You went with your gut for once.”

“Yeah, see how well that turned out?” He mumbles, feeling Sundae shift on the bed and rest against his chest. He trails a hand up and down her back.

Cooper chuckles, “Sounds like it was going great until you had outside demonic forces fucking it up.” Blaine can’t help but smile, just a little as he shakes his head. “Speaking of, how is our fem Brutus?”

“I haven’t talked to Erica.” Even though she’s tried. Along with Sebastian, she’s left several voicemails and text messages. He just…can’t bring himself to talk to her, not yet. He’s less angry than he was when he first learned what she and Hunter did or tried to do but…he still feels hurt and incredibly betrayed. How is he supposed to trust her again?

“Can I say something that you’ll probably roll your eyes over?”

Blaine chuckles, “I’m already doing that, so go head.”

He can hear his brother grinning through the phone, “Not saying that what Erica did was somehow okay; but she probably just got caught up in how she felt about you. Like you did with Sebastian. And she didn’t want to lose you.” He pauses, “You know us Anderson men are very hard to resist.”

He groans and runs a hand over his face, “My eyes have rolled back into my head.” But…he supposes what Cooper said…did make a little sense? “Since when are you so great at giving advice?”

“Didn’t I tell you I have a role as a psychiatrist in this film I’m working on?” Blaine can’t tell whether he’s serious or not but he’s not about to ask either, that’s a whole different rabbit hole he’d be tumbling down. “Do you want me to fly down?”

“No,” Blaine says instantly, he’s not going to pull him away from work. “I’m okay, really. I’ll figure this out.”

Cooper hums and Blaine tunes his ears to the noises behind him, tries to picture the waves crashing down on a perfect beach in front of his brother. If he concentrates enough, he can almost smell the sea spray.

“Alright, well, if you need me I’m only a call away. I’ll have to start charging you five dollars a minute though, I’m trying to get into character.”

Blaine laughs, Sundae barking as she rolls off his chest and into the pile of clothes he’s not sure why he bothered folding. Leave it to Cooper to put a smile on his face when he really needs it.

“Bye Coop.”

“See you later, squirt.”

\---

It’s been two weeks of dancing around the apartment complex, making sure he’s worked when Sebastian is home and vice versa. If he’s being honest, it’s getting tiring but he can’t quite bring himself to speak to him. He knows how childish it is, not even willing to try and _talk_ about what they’ve said to one another. But he just…he _can’t._ Because he knows the moment those green eyes meet his hazel ones that he might just forgive him instantly. And Blaine has to be fair to himself.

He misses him. Is that stupid? He misses their kisses and his touch, that little smirk that’s always on the corners of his mouth and the way his voice feels vibrating against his skin. He misses the most mundane things he didn’t think he could miss about a person. But he does.

Sebastian’s laugh, the way it sounds when it’s coming out of his nose more than his mouth, he misses waking up next to him, how Blaine can just turn over and press his nose and lips into his hair and breathe him in before falling back asleep for ten more minutes. The random conversations they seem to have when they’re cooking, like about sharks, or ridiculous reality TV, or when Blaine starts to sing musicals Sebastian sometimes jumps in and finishes his lines.

He misses Sebastian poking at his ticklish spots on the couch just so he’ll hand over the remote, the kisses they’ve shared and how _different_ they’ve all felt. He misses his lips lingering on his shoulder, his neck, brushing over his hairline and absentmindedly placing pecks on his jaw.

Blaine _really_ misses him.

A week ago Sebastian stopped trying to talk to him, no more notes, no more text messages, no more phone calls—and Blaine isn’t sure whether he’s more disappointed or relieved he’s given up.

Blaine finishes making a cup of tea and throws the tea bag away, letting out a soft sigh as he stirs in a few spoonfuls of sugar. Sundae trots into the room with a stuffed toy in her mouth, her jaws making it squeak. She has a t-shirt on her body, a makeshift dog shirt tied around her skinny waist. Sebastian must have made it for her to keep her warm and he hates how a phantom of a smile ghosts over his lips.

Sundae drops her toy and looks up at him as if she can sense who he’s thinking about. “Don’t look at me like that.” He tells her and crouches in front of her. She whines and nudges his shoulder with her head, his hands stroking her back under the t-shirt. “We both know how it feels to be betrayed, hmm? Doesn’t feel great, does it.”

Blaine stands when someone knocks on the front door. As he wanders towards it, his hand pauses mid-air in reaching for the doorknob. He should look through the peep-hole. He realizes that he never did talk to anyone about Noah—it feels so long ago, that conversation he had with Sebastian at work.

_Sebastian puts his hand on his knee and squeezes, “You either need to do it or I will.”_

He wonders if Sebastian mentioned it to someone, the landlord or the police. Everything between them had developed so fast that he completely forgot about Noah. His neighbor had left him alone since that party in his apartment. They saw one another in the lobby, moments where their eyes met but nothing was said, sometimes they’d exchange soft smiles but other than that…it was nothing. Radio silence. Noah never tried to check in on him or apologize for what had happened.

Blaine can’t remember exactly what Sebastian said to him that night but whatever it was had clearly gotten through to Noah to leave him alone.

But still…it doesn’t hurt to check. He leans against the wood and peeks through the peep-hole and.

It’s Erica.

He sighs softly and rests his forehead against the door, contemplating on whether he wants to open up or not.

“Blaine, please.” She says, her voice a bit muffled.

Well, she can obviously see him standing there by the shadow under the door or hear him shuffling—he doesn’t have much of a choice now. He’s not going to leave her hanging outside with no answer, he’s not that much of an asshole.

He opens the door, looking at her for a long moment before leaning against the doorframe. Sundae greets a familiar face, and even though she smiles at the dog as she pets her, Blaine can see how tired she is. Dark bags under her eyes, no makeup, and a messy bun paired with leggings she’s definitely not doing yoga in. Erica looks as exhausted as he feels.

When she finally does look up at him, Blaine can’t help but slowly cross his arms over his chest, a defense mechanism like it’ll somehow keep him from breaking even further.

“Hi.” She whispers.

He hates how good it feels to see her. “Hello.”

Erica motions towards the apartment. “Can I…”

Blaine wordlessly steps to the side and lets her in, closing the door behind them. Sundae runs past them and jumps onto the couch, excited that company is here. She barks, wants them to join her on the couch but they’re stuck in the small hallway of the front door.

He waits for her to say something and maybe she’s waiting on him for the same thing…but the words won’t come. He’s about to go into the kitchen and make another cup of tea, keep his hands busy, but as he shifts on his feet—

“I miss you.” Her voice is raw, jagged in places, like she was crying recently.

Blaine licks his lips and nods, he misses her too. So much that it’s somehow become second nature. Never really realize how much you can depend on someone until they’re not there.

“Will you please say something?”

“What do you want me to say?” He asks, grasping at straws. “I’m still _so_ angry with you.”

Erica sighs, eyes fluttering to the ceiling as they fill with tears. She pushes her fingers against her temples, eventually rubbing her palms over her face. “I know,” Her voice constricts, her throat tight. She’s trying not to cry. “I’m sorry.”

He shakes his head but before he can say anything she looks at him and lets out a sound caught between a scoff and a laugh.

“Sorry doesn’t mean much, I get that. But I am,” One of her hands fall to her chest. “I’m so…unbelievably sorry. I’ve been trying to figure out how to explain myself to you and nothing seems good enough.”

Blaine swallows, looks away from her, the arms still wrapped around his chest squeezing like a security blanket. “How about start with ‘why’. I trusted you.”

She sniffles, wipes under her eyes even though tears haven’t fallen yet, “I think I’ve just been…lonely for so long that I attached myself to the closest thing that was good in my life. Warm, safe. I know how you feel about guys and about Sebastian and I just…I squeezed too hard. I’m so sorry that I screwed that up.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose, letting a breath out he feels he’s been holding in for too long. “Even though I’d…like to blame you. Sebastian ruined that for himself.”

“I let Hunter pick at my insecurities and manipulate my feelings for you. I’m not saying it was just his fault but I shouldn’t have let him get inside my head. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Some tears slip past her lashes and down her cheeks, “I _never_ mean to hurt you.”

Something breaks inside Blaine’s chest, crumbles up, falls away. He’s not sure what it is or if he’ll ever need it again but he lets it go. He forgives her even though maybe he shouldn’t. She’s still his best friend and she’s not the only one who’s ever made an incredibly stupid mistake. He needs her just as much as she needs him and while it will take some time for him to trust her again…he’s willing to try. _We’re always going to be okay;_ that’s what she once told him.

“I do love you, you know.” Blaine says softly because that hasn’t changed.

Erica’s hand covers her mouth, a sob emptying out of her chest. She hadn’t expected this, she hadn’t expected him to forgive her but she came anyways. He takes a step forward and gathers her into his arms, tucking her tightly against his chest. She clings to him, her fingers tugging fabric into her hands, gripping him like she’s afraid he’ll disintegrate like smoke.

He smiles softly and presses a kiss to her temple, “You’re ruining my shirt.” He teases.

A choked laugh vibrates against his chest. “Fucker,” She sniffles, pulling back after a few moments. “It’s an ugly shirt anyways.”

He pretends to be offended, his mouth opening into an ‘O’ shape. “I’m telling Cooper you said that.”

And that’s all it takes for them to fall back into their normalcy, to sit with one another on the couch with cups of tea and talk like they used to. The put a movie on in the background but neither of them are watching it, they catch up, they laugh, and they order food for lunch and eat way too much.

Eventually, Erica leans against the couch cushion and offers him a small smile. “Can I ask…how Sebastian is?”

Blaine bites on his lower lip and looks at his hands as crosses his legs and leans back against the arm of the couch. “You can ask but…I don’t know. We haven’t really spoken since…Hunter and everything.”

“Did you tell him about…about me and Hunter?”

He rubs the back of his neck before shaking his head. “No, it doesn’t matter at this point anyways.”

She gently rests her hand on his knee and squeezes before reaching for another slice of now cold pizza. “Well you’re going to have to talk to him at some point, right? I mean, you do live together.”

Blaine scrunches his nose as she takes a bite of her pizza. “At least microwave it.” She laughs and throws a napkin at him. “I don’t even know what I’d say to him.”

“Do you want to forgive him?”

Of course he wants to forgive him, but isn’t that the problem? “I forgave Kurt one too many times,” He swallows; isn’t exactly proud of how he handled his past relationship. He was a doormat and what was worse he _knew_ he was being treated as one and just allowed it to continue. “What if this turns into the same thing?”

“You already have your answer just by saying that,” She says around a mouthful of pizza. “You’re not going to let it turn into that again.”

“He slept with another guy.” He points out, hates the way it tastes in his mouth.

“You guys weren’t…official, were you?”

Blaine frowns, shrugging his one shoulder. “He got us a dog, I met his sister…someone he’s never even told other people about. We weren’t exclusive, I guess not…exactly, but…”

“But he still hurt you.” She finishes, pointing at him with her crust.

He nods, swatting the crust out of his face. She smirks and takes a bite out of it. “Yeah. Maybe we didn’t label ourselves but I wasn’t interested in anyone else. I thought it was clear enough.”

Erica lets out a soft sigh. “Alright, I really don’t think I need to be his spokesperson or anything, given the past few weeks but it sounds like he just…really doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

And that, maybe, was the thing that blew his mind the most. Someone as smooth and charming as Sebastian didn’t understand how to date someone, how to care about someone exclusively. How to love, how to let himself be loved. Blaine wasn’t exactly writing a novel about it either but shouldn’t there be some things that are just common sense? Was he that lost in trying to figure it out?

Was Blaine willing to purposely jump off that ledge into freefall just to reach Sebastian midair?

“I think it’d be a lot easier if you didn’t forgive him,” Erica says after a moment but then nudges his knee with her foot, waiting until he looks at her. “But I think you’d be a lot more lonely too if you don’t.”

Blaine has to admit, he _is_ tired of feeling lonely.

\---

He doesn’t mean to literally run into Sebastian in their kitchen but he wakes up earlier than he usually does and wanders half asleep to get coffee. He doesn’t work until later that night so he can leisurely go about his day until he has to drag himself into putting his scrubs on…but Sebastian hasn’t left for his internship yet and

Exactly. He runs right into him, nearly spills coffee down his perfectly pressed button up shirt and suit jacket.

“Shit, I’m sorry.” The words die in Blaine’s throat as he looks up at Sebastian, a soft chuckle leaving the other’s lips.

Fuck. Of course he has to look perfect, when his resolve is already wearing thin. He clears his throat and takes a step back, putting his coffee down on the table. Blaine is still half asleep, straightening his shoulders as he looks over his roommate. Well, _was_ half asleep. Let’s just say seeing Sebastian so perfectly put together this morning has woken him up fairly quickly. Perfectly coiffed hair and a pin-striped suit, light blue button down shirt underneath. He nearly gets lost in counting the freckles on his cheekbones.

Blaine has to look away, almost like staring into the sun…it hurts.

“No damage done, right?” Sebastian runs his hand down his dress shirt, smoothing out wrinkles.

That probably wasn’t the best choice of words but he just nods, moving to put food in Sundae’s dish.

“I didn’t think you’d be awake, you usually do your best to avoid me in the morning.”

He sighs as he stands. Okay, he kind of deserved that one. But how did Sebastian expect him to handle this? Go sleep with someone to even the score? Blaine turns to look at him, putting the lid back on the dog food.

“I didn’t want to see you.”

“And you didn’t want to talk.” Sebastian points out, putting coffee into a thermos.

_I didn’t know what to say._ Blaine gets the milk out for his roommate who takes the carton and pours into his coffee. He still doesn’t but maybe running into him this morning is a sign that the radio silence should stop. Even small talk has to be better than nothing.

“Thought you might start leaving hints that you wanted me to move out.”

A flash of guilt worms its way between his ribcage because no, God, that’s…he didn’t intend that. He just wanted to have his space, it hurt to see him, to think about what he and Hunter did just behind his bedroom door.

“No,” Blaine whispers, “Of course not.”

He doesn’t tell him that when everything first happened _Blaine_ was the one who considered moving out but…he’s glad he didn’t. That he gave himself some time to realize that it wouldn’t help anything at all, especially how he felt.

Regardless of not wanting to admit it to himself, Erica was right—not forgiving Sebastian might be easier but Blaine would be incredibly lonely if he didn’t. And he’d regret not trying.

“Haven’t seen Hunter around.” He says after a moment, looking up at him.

Sebastian nods and puts the milk away, “I would hope not, I made it pretty clear I never wanted to see him again.”

Oh. Blaine wasn’t expecting that. He supposes he should have but…he never thought Sebastian would actually kick Hunter to the curb. He knows that they had sex pretty frequently but he thought underneath the bullshit that they might actually be friends. He apparently guessed wrong.

“You look surprised.” Sebastian comments, leaning against the counter.

Blaine shrugs, “Yeah, a little. I guess. Is it because of what happened?”

“Because I punched him in the face.” Sebastian comments, like he’s talking about the weather. Blaine raises an eyebrow and the taller smiles a little, “Let’s just…say he deserved it.”

“Really had no questions about it.” He mumbles, taking a sip of his coffee. “Guess my creamer is finally safe.”

Sebastian smiles, soft and genuine and it yanks at Blaine’s stomach until it feels like the organ is choking his windpipe. “I wouldn’t go that far, I’m quite fond of a little hazelnut every now and then.”

They’re not completely better but it’s something and Blaine can’t help but smile, _really_ smile, a blush kissing his cheekbones. He nods his head and goes to take his coffee into the living room but Sebastian gently brushes his fingertips over his wrist, gaining his attention.

“Can we talk tonight?”

“I have work.” Blaine tells him but not as an excuse. He _wants_ to talk to him. It’s not until this conversation that he realizes how much he really misses him. He doesn’t want to spend another moment apart, he wants to figure this out.

“When you get home. I’ll make dinner.”

He smirks a little, picking up his coffee. “Now you’re just trying to bribe me.”

“Chicken parm.” Sebastian grins.

“Well how can I say no to good Italian?” He protests, lips against the rim of his mug.

Sebastian nods and moves his hand to play with a curl near Blaine’s ear; slow enough that he can pull away if he wants to. But he doesn’t. The heat of his palm kisses the side of his face and it’s almost so easy to lean into it, to close his eyes and let himself fall.

But they have to talk first. They have to figure things out and unwind the complicated wires which have gotten so crisscrossed that they’ve almost choked them. 

“I’ll see you tonight.” Sebastian says before pulling away to grab his coffee.

Blaine offers a small wave, watching him say goodbye to Sundae who’s by the door. He leans down and kisses her head as he pets her chest, laughing as she barks and stretches up his leg. She whines as he opens the front door and leaves, glancing back at Blaine one more time before the door closes.

He lets out a small breath, setting his coffee down on the table in front of the TV. He might have ran into Sebastian on accident this morning but…it sort of feels like he was meant to, like maybe the universe is finally giving him some sort of break.

Before he can sit on the couch there’s a knock at the door. Blaine doesn’t think much of it; he’s certain it’s Sebastian since he just left, probably forgot some files or his house keys. He opens the door without checking the peep-hole.

It’s not Sebastian.

It’s Noah.

Blaine pauses, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. He’s surprised, didn’t expect it to be him.

“Oh.” Shit, he swallows, isn’t sure what to say. Sundae is growling behind him, low and protective. “Noah. I haven’t seen you around lately. How…how are you?”

_Close the door._ Noah scoffs, heavily leaning against the doorframe, like he can’t support himself on his feet. The smell of alcohol whiffs to Blaine’s nose, he’s clearly intoxicated but how long has he been like this? He looks unkempt, his shirt not buttoned correctly, his jean pockets out on the outside. He’s not wearing shoes.

“How are you and Sebastian?” He asks, looking up at Blaine. His eyes are bloodshot, his face sheen with sweat.

“Sebastian?” Blaine asks, his fingers squeezing the doorknob so hard his knuckles are white. _Close. The door._

“Yeah,” Noah smiles but even that seems twisted.

“I think you should go home.” His voice sounds a lot stronger than he feels.

“I’ve noticed you two seem to be on separate schedules lately.”

Blaine feels something ice cold wrap around his ribcage and windpipe. He tries to will his limbs to move but he’s suddenly frozen where he stands.

_He knows I’m alone._

He finally tries to shut the door, the movement quick and jerky but it’s too late—Noah shoves his way inside the apartment, Sundae barking as the door slams shut behind them.


	8. eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one chapter after this! Please enjoy :) Thanks to everyone who gave the story a chance and left a review. This chapter also has some HEAVY imagery that might be triggering for some. Please read with caution!

Too many things are happening at once, disorienting him to the point where he can’t decide what to do because he can’t quite figure out what’s going on. It’s surreal, even as Blaine’s back hits the floor, even as his head bumps against the table by the front door—nothing clicks. Nothing. It feels like such an out-of-body experience, like he’s watching this unfold from a corner in the room.

“All I ever wanted to do was just…be close to you.” Noah slurs.

Then—it all comes together when he hears his belt unbuckle. Panic surges into his chest, through his ribcage and he jerks his hips hard enough that his neighbor nearly tumbles off. It’s not until he twists around, trying to crawl on his stomach towards his bedroom that he realizes how heavily he’s breathing. He got the wind knocked out of him, his hands shaking as something warm trickles down his temple. Blood.

His head is throbbing.

God, no, this can’t be happening. Is this…is this what he thinks it is? _No._ He scrambles, tries to move to the last place he saw his phone or get to another room where he can put a barrier between him and Noah. His limbs feel stuck in molasses, heavy, he’s not moving fast enough—he can hear him get a handle on himself behind him.

Noah grabs a fistful of Blaine’s curls and _yanks—_ a crushed whimper leaving his lips. God, no, this can’t be happening; over and over again in his head. Noah can’t be this person, he can’t be. He’s _not._ No matter how drunk or obsessed he became, he would never stoop so low as to—

“Hold still.” He snaps, “Please God, I just want to be close to you.  Don’t you understand how I _feel_ about you?”

Sundae hasn’t stopped barking since Noah pushed his way into the apartment; she’s snarling, snapping at the intruder’s ankles. He kicks her and the noise that leaves her snout is almost enough for Blaine to _scream_ at him. It almost overwhelms everything in him, _don’t you dare hurt my dog,_ isn’t that ironic? He’s almost more concerned about Sundae than about himself.

Finally his voice breaks through his chest in a rushed clutter of noises, “Noah, please don’t. You don’t have to do this, please _stop.”_ A jumbled mess of pleas and crying. He’s trying to get away, but Blaine is awkwardly pinned underneath him, Noah using his weight to keep him on the floor.

His knee presses into his back, he can’t move, he can’t _breathe._ Noah is grabbing at his clothes, tearing fabric and even as his nails are scraping against his skin there’s a switch in Blaine that turns off—almost like a defense mechanism, like all of this is happening to him but he’s not _experiencing_ it. If that even makes any sense.

And just as sudden as Noah crushing him into the hardwood floor is just as quick as his weight disappears. Blaine doesn’t turn around but he sits up quickly and huddles against the side of the couch, drawing his knees to his chest. There’s a few large crashes, wood splintering, Sundae is barking again—and even through all of that, even though he’s not sure what’s going on, he focuses on the fact that _the dog is okay_ and that brings him a breath of relief.

Someone crouches in front of him and touches his face and the knee-jerk reaction is to cower, to push them away, “Please stop _no.”_ comes tumbling out of his mouth before he can even think about what he’s saying.

“Blaine,” Calm, comforting and above all concerned. The voice is warm and familiar and it takes him a moment but he recognizes it. His hazel eyes look up into gentle green ones.

“Sebastian.” He chokes out in raw relief because he’s _there._ He’s there.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Barely makes it out of the other’s mouth because he’s throwing himself into his arms.

Sebastian gathers him into his chest and hugs him tightly. His breathing heavy and jagged, face buried against his shoulder.

“Shh, you’re alright.” Sebastian whispers against his curls, gentle hands everywhere. Through his curls and down his back, up again and down again. Consistently back and forth, sometimes sneaking under his shirt to trace the knobs of his spine. “I’m here. You’re okay. I promise.”  

He doesn’t let his roommate go, even when the police show up.

\---

The entire process takes forever but Blaine isn’t sure what he was expecting. The police collect Noah and guide him out of the apartment, it’s not easy since he’s so drunk, tripping over his feet to the point where the officers almost have to pick him up. He’s also got a bloody broken nose and two black eyes… and that’s just what Blaine can see. He might also be limping because Sebastian kicked him and he wouldn’t be surprised if he did.

“I’m so sorry Blaine.” Noah chokes out and Blaine wraps his arms around himself as he sits on the couch. Can’t even look at him without shuddering; Sebastian slipping down next to him to wrap an arm around his shoulders.

Noah’s walking away in one piece and honestly? Part of him can’t believe that Sebastian showed that much self-control in the first place.

He just…wants the apartment to be quiet again, he wants to clean up, and he wants to scrub his skin raw until he can’t feel Noah’s fingertips against his pores. The police offer to take his statement later but he wants to get it over with. He recounts everything, quickly and carefully, Sundae resting on his feet. He leans down to touch her ears every so often, grounding himself in that moment, not allowing himself to float back to before Sebastian yanked Noah off of his body.

He doesn’t hear his roommate give the police his responses, just feels the vibration of his voice against his side. The paramedics want to take him to the hospital but he says no, no, _no,_ until Sebastian promises to stay home and keep an eye on him. He probably has a concussion but that’s not too terrible compared to what could have happened. They clean up the blood on the side of his face but it turns out the head tends to bleed a lot, the cut there isn’t too severe—doesn’t need stitches.

He just has some minor cuts and mostly bruises; he’ll be sore tomorrow.

Eventually he can’t keep it out, like a scratch in a DVD that causes the same scene to replay over and over again, stuck on repeat in front of his eyes. Noah on top of him, crushing him. Noah panting, _turned on,_ in his ear. Blaine’s words echoing— _please stop, don’t—_

“Hey.” Sebastian cups his face, breaking the trance he seems to be stuck in. “Come on.”

He gently takes him into their bathroom when the apartment is empty, setting him on the closed toilet seat while he runs a hot bath. It’s quiet for a long time and before that scene can play again, Blaine looks up at him to says, “You came back.”

Sebastian pauses like he’s not quite sure what Blaine means by that. He kneels in front of him, taking his hand, and runs his thumb over his knuckles. He probably just went through all of this with the officers but his face is patient and gentle, no signs of frustration that he has to repeat anything.

“Yeah, I came back.” He reaches with his other hand to turn the water off. “I went to take the elevator but it was taking too long, so I went for the steps. I heard Sundae barking.” He squeezes his hand and it’s not until he does that Blaine realizes how badly he’s still shaking, “I didn’t think much of it until I realized she wasn’t stopping. I knew something was wrong.”

Blaine sniffles and looks down at their hands, “He kicked her.”

His roommate slowly pulls back so that he can stand, his one hand brushing his thumb along Blaine’s jaw while the other tugs at the bottom of his shirt. He sits up straight so Sebastian can pull the fabric up and over his head.

“She’s okay, I made sure.” Sebastian tells him, “I’m more worried about you.”

“Paramedics gave me a clean bill of health.” Blaine protests.

Sebastian picks up a jar of lavender scented bath beads and drops a few into the water, rolling his eyes. “More like they wanted to take you to the hospital for x-rays and you refused.”

He can’t help the tiniest of smiles when he hears Sebastian mutter ‘stubborn little shit’ under his breath but as he glances down at his chest he wonders if he should have listened. He’s bruised, which explains why it hurts to take deep breaths. He wonders if he has the same circular purplish blue marks on his back from where Noah kneeled on him, to keep him pinned against the floor.

It’s starting to sink in…how bad this could have been, what would have happened if Sebastian hadn’t come back home.

He stands with the help of his roommate and watches as he tugs down his sweats, Blaine’s hand automatically reaching out and squeezing his wrist because—wait, _wait._ Stop. He can’t. He lets out a shaky breath, Sebastian looking up at him and pulling his hands back so he can see them.

“Just me.” God, Blaine _knows_ this. He knows it’s just Sebastian but for some reason that sense memory is kicking into overdrive and all he can feel is Noah’s fingers, Noah’s weight on his back, Noah’s breath against the shell of his ear.

“I’m sorry.” He chokes out quickly and shakes his head.

“Don’t be sorry,” Sebastian whispers, undoing his neck tie and unbuttoning his shirt. “I can leave.”

But Blaine doesn’t want that either, he doesn’t know _what_ he wants and that’s the problem. He straightens his shoulders, determined, and undoes his pants before kicking them aside. He has bruises along his inner thighs but he’s not sure where they’re from. Was he kicked? Did he fall awkwardly? Was this from trying to get away?

The past few hours feels like a blur. Like a movie he saw a long time ago, can’t quite remember all the details, just flashes, even though he was there. Even though it happened to him.

“Don’t go, okay?” Blaine manages to say, looking up at his roommate as he chews on his lower lip.

A soft smile tugs its way onto Sebastian’s lips, “And here I thought you hated me.”

Ouch, okay, he knows that wasn’t exactly a jab but…he deserved that. Blaine’s finding it harder and harder to hold it together, his shoulders shaking with effort.

“I don’t hate you,” He admits, his lower lip wobbling as he looks up at Sebastian. His roommate cups his face, running his thumb over his cheekbone. “I just said that because I was…I was hurt. You hurt me. I said I hated you because I never really hated you at all, even after Hunter.”

Sebastian chuckles softly, can’t help it and pulls him into his chest. He squeezes him tightly, his hand working up and down his back, pausing every so often to massage circles into his spine.

“You have the strangest way of showing affection.” Sebastian teases, making Blaine laugh wetly against his shoulder. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Blaine lets him take care of him, helping him into the bath and slips in behind him a few minutes later. His shoulders are tense until Sebastian starts kissing them, working his hands up and down his arms in order to relax him. His lips mapping a trail down his neck while his arms very slowly wrap around Blaine’s middle.

Eventually he feels his body unwind, bone after bone, muscle after muscle, leaning back against Sebastian’s chest. He closes his eyes and after a few minutes he feels his roommate grab a washcloth and begin washing him, slow and steady, willing to pull back if he does anything that makes Blaine uncomfortable.

His fingers eventually work shampoo and conditioner into Blaine’s curls, massaging his scalp until soft noises of pleasure and relief leave his lips.

They stay in the tub long after the water has gone cold.

\---

 Okay, so the apartment has had some bad vibes…Blaine isn’t denying that. His ex had broken up with him in his bedroom, Hunter and Sebastian have had sex on…God, a lot of viable surfaces, he had that ugly fight with his roommate around the kitchen and Noah had tried to sexually assault him near the front door and living room.

But there’s also a lot of good things about his apartment—it’s where he met Sebastian and got a dog and decided to explore something more with his roommate. It just needs a little pick-me-up, a little more love and care. They can repaint some rooms or reorganize the living room, something to revitalize his feng shui. It’s been over a month and a half, he needs to do something. Blaine feels like he’s going a little stir crazy with the apartment even though he’s been working a lot of shifts to save up some extra money.

He makes a check-list and considers whether or not he’s going to tell Sebastian or just do it to see what his reaction will be.

Erica suggests they look for a new place but why? He doesn’t want to give up on his apartment when all they need is a few new coats of paint and good memories. Besides, after everything with Hunter trying to steal the apartment out from under his nose he doesn’t want to give it up that easy.

He taps a pen against a notepad as he leans against the kitchen counter, wondering if they should repaint all the rooms or just a few. Sebastian wraps an arm around his waist and startles him with a kiss pressed to his temple.

“God, don’t do that.”

Sebastian smirks, “I kinda like it when your ass jerks against me.”

He rolls his eyes and purposely shoves his ass back so Sebastian stumbles off of him. His roommate grins and squeezes his waist before glancing over his shoulder at his list. “What are you doing?”

“Just…thinking about remodeling some stuff in our apartment.”

“Don’t buy shit at IKEA; I’m not putting together another coffee table that has too many screws.”

Blaine watches him go into the fridge to get out a pitcher of iced tea. “No coffee tables, just moving some stuff around. Maybe repaint a few rooms?” He suggests, rubbing the back of his neck.

Sebastian leans against the counter after he pours himself a glass of tea and takes a small sip, “You still getting headaches?”

He shrugs his one shoulder but doesn’t say anything. They’re not as frequent as they once were after his concussion but he went to the doctor to make sure everything was okay.  Turned out it was stress and not the bump on the head that was causing minor explosions along his temples. Yeah, if he was being honest, he was still a little stressed but it was nothing for Sebastian to worry about. He just had to work through his own shit and starting with the apartment was a great place to begin.

“I’m okay.” He tells him and gives him a small smile.

Sebastian hums and presses a kiss to the bridge of his nose, making Blaine smirk. “No IKEA lamps either. Or pillows.”

Blaine chuckles and stands up on his toes to kiss the corner of his mouth, “Deal…maybe a daybed, what about one of those?” He teases, making Sebastian grab at his ass.

“Your sense of humor is impeccable.”

“Heard its part of my undeniable charm.”

Blaine kisses him again, just because he can, Sebastian’s arms wrapping around his lower waist to keep him pressed against his body. His roommate hums, quickly lifting him onto the kitchen counter with practiced ease—sliding between his legs and—

There’s a knock on their door.

He groans softly, his forehead falling to Sebastian’s shoulder.

“We could pretend we’re not home.”

“It’s probably Erica.” Blaine mumbles, “She wanted to check in on me.”

“Oh.” Sebastian pauses. “In that case we can definitely be home and just not answer the door.”

Blaine huffs and pokes his side before hopping off the counter, moving to the front door. Something cold clutches the bottom of his ribcage and he finds himself stopping, staring at the door handle like it might bite him. They’ve put extra locks on the door and when he forces himself to move he looks through the peephole and unlocks all of them.

She instantly hugs him when the door is opened, Sundae greeting her with little yips of excitement and running to the couch to retrieve her favorite toy.

“Hey there stranger.” She smiles as she pulls back, Blaine closing the door behind her. “No texts, no calls…no carrier pigeons.”

Blaine chuckles a little and leads her into the kitchen. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be radio silent. Just have had a lot going on with work and…”

“Stalker neighbors.” She fills in, glancing at Sebastian who is watching her over the rim of his iced tea. “Sebastian.”

“Erica.” He replies with the same tone.

Blaine hadn’t told Sebastian about the fight he’d had with Erica, or that she did have feelings for him much like he suspected. It was a misunderstanding and she had apologized. He understood what it felt like to be so lonely that sometimes you held onto and crushed the people that meant the most because you were afraid of losing them too.

Erica’s working on herself, working on letting go—she’s slowly accepting Sebastian’s place in Blaine’s life. Just as Sebastian accepts the fact that Blaine would always have Erica as a friend and that she usually shows up with no invitation but sometimes brings homemade guacamole.

Today is one of those days.

“Still have those chips right?” She asks as she puts a green filled container onto the counter.

Blaine nods and reaches into the cupboards but can’t quite reach the bag. Sebastian slides up next to him and retrieves them easily, grinning down at his short yet adorable roommate and presses a kiss to his forehead.

“Excellent.” She says and tears the bag open before pushing the guac towards the two men. “Dig in. Made with love.”

“No poison this time?” Sebastian teases, scooping up a decent amount onto a few chips and popping them into his mouth.

“That would be a special batch just for you.” She jokes back, winking at him. She steals a few chips for herself and hops up onto the counter, “So I saw someone is moving into Noah’s apartment?”

Blaine nods and pours her a glass of iced tea before getting one for himself. “Yeah, little old married couple. They seem nice.”

“The woman is already obsessed with Blaine,” Sebastian smirks, licking his lips. “We took over a welcome basket and she pinched his cheeks. Told him he was the most handsome man she’s ever seen. Her husband just laughed.”

A blush kisses his face, “She was just kidding. Obviously.”

Erica laughs, scooping out another bite of guac. “I think that apartment is cursed, anyone who lives in it instantly becomes obsessed with you.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense.” Sebastian snorts.

Blaine rolls his eyes and elbows his roommate’s side which doesn’t do much because Sebastian just uses the momentum to tug him into his chest. He huffs but remains there, finally taking some chips and guac for himself.

“Hilarious. All of a sudden you two are on the same side now?”

“We’re just glad it’s an old woman and not creepy Noah.” Erica smiles a little, sipping from her iced tea.

Sebastian hums, “Police told me that this was his second account of assault and battery. At that rate he could be looking at one to three years in jail.”

He feels a shiver trace down his spine—this was his second time? What happened the first? Who had to go through something like Blaine had to? Why would the landlord let someone like Noah move into the apartment complex? He’s sure it’s not as black and white as it feels but he _is_ happy to know that Noah will never bother him again.

Sebastian presses a kiss to the top of Blaine’s curls, drawing him closer when he feels him shaking. He smiles up at him before stealing one of the chips in his hand.

Erica picks up the check-list on the counter, making an impressed sort of expression as her eyes tick through the options. “Remodeling?”

“Not really, just interested in making a few small changes.” Blaine nods, grabbing a pen to write down another stencil idea he has for the kitchen cabinets.

It’s quiet for a few moments, the only sounds filling the space is Blaine scribbling and Sebastian munching on chips.

“You should get a daybed.” She says, a joking tone hugging her words.

Blaine just laughs and Sebastian throws a few chips at her.


	9. epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is it! Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed and in some case over in tumblr, reblogged. I really appreciate it. You guys make every word I write worth it. So thank you and enjoy! 
> 
> Comments are appreciated <3

Blaine lets out a long sigh through his nose as he sets a sunflower stencil aside, smiling at the soft golden brown flower he’s left painted behind on one of the kitchen cabinets. He’s always loved painting, even though there’s some debate on whether he’s supposed to have the brush strokes go side to side or up and down to avoid those little bubbles. Regardless, he’s been enjoying himself.

And Sebastian has apparently been enjoying him in no shirt and small jean shorts because he keeps interrupting every ten minutes.

“You know, you could always _help.”_ Blaine points out over his shoulder as he glides a wide roller paintbrush across the wall.

“And miss the opportunity to stare at your ass?” He scoffs. “I can’t multitask that.”

He smiles and shakes his head, running a hand through his curls as he dips the brush. “No, course. Can’t have that.” He chews on his lower lip in concentration before deciding to take a break. “How’s your sister?”

They haven’t spoken about her in a while, since that day they had the unexpected lunch and hot chocolate in the park but Blaine thinks about her often. He wants to see her again, get to know her, learn that other side of Sebastian that he rarely shows him. His roommate had left his observational post in the kitchen to talk to her on the phone.

“She’s good. Won’t stop asking about you.”

Blaine laughs and turns to look at him, wiping his hands off in a towel. “Nice to know she has such good taste.”

Sebastian rolls his eyes before scrunching his nose at the wall. “So…yellow? Out of all the brilliant colors we’re going with yellow?”

“It’s sunflower gold.” He pouts, holding up the paint can so Sebastian can see the label.

“It’s baby food.” The taller corrects, “Where was I when you picked this color?”

Blaine puts the lid on the paint can, leaning against the counter. Sebastian attempts to pull him closer to kiss his neck but he’s unsuccessful because Blaine squirms at the long piano fingers brushing against his side.

“Under the sheets. Apparently a blowjob was more important than our kitchen palette.”

He scrunches his nose, “That doesn’t sound like me.” Sebastian objects in mock horror and then looks down at Blaine’s hips in those jean shorts before shrugging. “Actually, never mind.” His thumbs press under the fabric, “ _Now_ I remember.”

“You said pick whatever I want.” His arms wrap around Sebastian’s shoulders, his lips pressing a few solid kisses against his jawline.

“You should know better than to listen to me when all I want is your dick in my mouth.”

Blaine snorts out a laugh, his face falling to Sebastian’s neck. “Duly noted.”

He tugs on his waist towards the bedroom hallway, “There’s this weird spot near your bedroom, I think you need to check it out.”

“This is the weirdest way you’ve ever tried to get me into bed.”

Sebastian smirks and nips at his shoulder blade with his teeth. “Give me more credit, I’m not trying to sleep with you. At least not right now. There’s a weird spot.”

“Really?” Blaine frowns and pouts as Sebastian pulls him towards the hall. “Like a stain? Maybe we can move a table or something to cover it up, I don’t think we should waste time and money renovating the hallway…how big is it—”

But when they stop near the outside of his bedroom, there’s no stain. Instead…there’s a handwritten note in blue paint:

_Can I upgrade from roommate to boyfriend?_

There’s even little paw prints, obviously Sundae’s doing with Sebastian’s help, around the word ‘boyfriend’. Blaine feels a breath catch in his throat, his eyes running over the message again and again until it finally registers. Sebastian is asking him to be his boyfriend… _officially._

“You know…” He looks at the spot on the wall and scrunches his nose, “We weren’t going to paint these walls right?”

Sebastian’s mouth opens like a goldfish. “Shit. Really? I thought it was on your list.”

“Kitchen and living room.”

“Damn it.”

Blaine turns to look at him and wraps his arms around his neck. “I’m out of paint unless you want sunflower baby food.” To which Sebastian groans and Blaine leans into his chest, grinning. “You know, I kinda like it on the wall actually.”

He leans over and touches it gently, trailing his fingers over the brush marks with affection and admiration.

“We can’t actually leave it there.” Sebastian adds.

“It’s my favorite small change we’ve made.” Blaine smiles and kisses him, slow and steady.

Sebastian is smiling when they pull back for air. “So I’ll take that as a yes?”

When they kiss again, Blaine thinks that’s the only answer he needs. Sebastian picks him up, Blaine’s legs automatically wrapping around his waist.

“Okay, _now_ I’m trying to sleep with you.” He grins up at him, pushing his way into Blaine’s bedroom.

Blaine just laughs as his back hits the mattress.

\---

It’s too early to be out of bed but the alarm isn’t lying. If he hits snooze one more time he’ll be late, so Blaine pulls himself up regardless of the fact that Sebastian is trying to yank him back down into the covers.

“Stay.”

Blaine chuckles softly and turns so he can brush his lips over his forehead. “You know I can’t. Need the money.”

Sebastian huffs and presses his face into the pillow, stretching his arms above his head. Sundae doesn’t appreciate the movement, usually snuggles up between their two bodies when sleeping. She looks up at Sebastian and moves in bed, lying down where Blaine’s legs once were with an exaggerated sigh.

“Who needs early hours like this? We’ll both quit our day jobs and I’ll start stripping. We’ll have all the money we need.”

Blaine just snorts and pokes at Sebastian’s ticklish spot along his ribs. “Shut up, go back to sleep.”

Sebastian swats Blaine’s hand away but grabs his wrist so he can kiss his knuckles, “Get back in bed.”

Blaine shakes his head, his boyfriend already falling back asleep as he talks. He leans down and kisses his forehead, the bridge of his nose and finally his lips. “I love you.” He whispers.

What he assumes is a response back leaves Sebastian’s mouth in a hushed murmur, pushing his face into his pillow as Blaine gets out of bed.

“Come on Sundae, let’s get breakfast.”

The dog’s ears perk up at the sound of food and she jumps out of bed, her nails trotting along the hardwood floor as they leave the bedroom. Blaine closes Sebastian’s bedroom door, pausing to glance across the hall.

He kisses his fingers and presses them against the little note there, always trailing his touch over the word boyfriend.

Blaine smiles softly, the space worn down from him touching it every morning after he wakes up and every night before he goes to sleep. It’s a little ritual he’s done since Sebastian painted the note on the wall months ago; something private and loving, for good luck.

_Good luck,_ Blaine laughs a little under his breath. If loving his roommate has taught him anything, it’s that he’s going to need it.


End file.
